Chicago Cubs vs. Philadelphia Phillies preview, Thursday 9/16, 5:05 CT

Thursday notes:

• THOSE HOME RUNS LAST NIGHT: Wednesday night marked the first time since August 24, 2018 vs. the Reds that the Cubs had two different home runs that either tied the game or gave them the lead in the eighth inning or later (Daniel Murphy and David Bote). Matt Duffy’s home run was his first ever go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later.
• SCHWINDY CITY UPDATE: Frank Schwindel has hit eight home runs in his last 15 games since August 29, and is slashing .381/.418/.810 with three doubles, 19 RBI, four walks and 13 runs to go along with the eight homers in that span. Schwindel has multiple hits in 17 of his 48 games in 2021.
• MORE FRANK THE TANK: Schwindel has 20 hits in his last 11 games since September 3. He’s the first Cub with as many hits in an 11-game stretch since Aramis Ramirez recorded 25 hits in 11 games from August 11-23, 2011.
• THE PROFESSOR: Kyle Hendricks tonight makes his 30th start of the season. In so doing, he will become just the sixth pitcher in the divisional era (since 1969) to record five 30-start campaigns with the franchise. The others: Rick Reuschel (8 times), Greg Maddux (7), Carlos Zambrano (6), Fergie Jenkins (6) and Jon Lester (5).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Phillies lineup:

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. Cam Bedrosian, RHP

Kyle Hendricks still has a chance to redeem his 2021 season after a really bad August. He’s probably got three starts remaining, including tonight, though I suppose they could start him on regular rest on the last day of the season to give him four. Even so, he’ll likely wind up with the highest ERA of his career.

Kyle had a good outing in his last start against the Giants. Let’s hope that continues and he finishes the year on a high note. He has not faced the Phillies since September 1, 2018, and most of those Phillies are gone now. However, he has held current Phillies to a .216 (25-for-116) BA with only one home run (Bryce Harper).

Kyle notes: The Professor has a franchise record 89-consecutive starts with three or fewer walks allowed dating to June 27, 2018. And, he is is 8-3 with a 3.73 ERA (33 earned runs in 79⅔ innings) in 13 road starts this season.

Hoping for good things from Kyle tonight.

Statcast

Looks like the Phillies are going with a bullpen game as they have listed reliever Cam Bedrosian as their starter. Bedrosian began this year with the Reds, was let go by them in April and signed with the A’s, and after they let him go in July he signed with the Phillies. This will be his first MLB “start” since 2019 when he made seven, and I put “start” in quotes because clearly he’s not going to throw more than an inning or two. He threw the last out of the seventh in Tuesday’s game, retiring Willson Contreras on a popup.

That’s about all I’ve got for a bullpen game.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. In some areas this game will be available on MLB Network joined in progress beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT. Check your channel guide.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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The 2021 Game Thread procedure will be a bit different than previous years. It will be similar to what we’ve used for Spring Training.

You’ll find the game preview posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game, including the First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread, as well as the recap when it’s published. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at 90 minutes after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.