Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Friday 9/17, 7:10 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Friday notes...

• LOSING TO MILWAUKEE: The Cubs look tonight to snap a nine-game losing streak against Milwaukee dating to April 24. They have been outscored 78-24 during this skid and this is the franchise’s longest-ever losing streak to the Brewers Previous record: An eight-game losing streak, June 6-August 29, 2012.
• ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Cubs scored seven runs in the third inning Thursday, tied for their second-highest total in an inning this season. They scored seven in an inning two other times, and eight in the eighth inning on May 21 at St. Louis. Also, Matt Duffy has homered in consecutive games for the second time in his career (the other: June 27-28, 2015). Duffy has four home runs in his last eight games after hitting just one in his first 74 games of the season.
• SCHWINDY CITY UPDATE: Since joining the Cubs on July 30, Frank Schwindel ranks among the major league leaders in batting average (1st, .365), slugging percentage (2nd, .679), OPS (2nd, 1.094), hits (tied for 2nd, 57) and extra-base hits (tied for 7th, 24).
• RELIEF HELP: Codi Heuer has posted a 1.57 ERA (four earned runs in 23 innings) in his first 19 outings with the team, holding the opponent to a .169 BA (13-for-77) with a .244 OBP and a .517 OPS. Rowan Wick in his last five outings has three saves, thrown eight scoreless innings and walked two with 12 strikeouts and a .077 opponent BA (2-for-26).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

Also of interest for this series (time listed is ET):

Zach Davies, RHP vs. Adrian Houser, RHP

Pitcher A, last 14 starts: 6.79 ERA, 1.685 WHIP, 18 HR in 62⅓ innings
Pitcher B, last 14 starts: 6.59 ERA, 1.282 WHIP, 19 HR in 71 innings

Pitcher A is Zach Davies. Pitcher B is Yu Darvish.

Feel better now?

Yeah, me neither.

The good news is that Davies has three, possibly four more starts in a Cubs uniform and then we will never have to suffer through one of his starts again.

Oddly enough, Davies has made only one start against his former Brewer teammates this year, June 29 in Milwaukee, and it was typical 2021 Davies: four innings, two runs, a bazillion pitches (okay, only 84). In 30 starts this year he’s gone six or more innings only eight times.

If tonight is better, I will be genuinely stunned.

Statcast

Adrian Houser has only been “good” this year as opposed to the rest of the Brewers rotation, which has been unbelievable.

Still, a 3.25 ERA, one complete game and 1.6 bWAR is pretty good. He has a higher walk rate than you’d like to see from a starter (4.1 per nine innings), so maybe the Cubs can be patient hitters tonight. He missed some time last month on the COVID-19 list.

Houser has not faced the Cubs this year and thus most Cubs have not seen him. Ian Happ is 3-for-7 with two doubles, for whatever that’s worth. Since July 1 he’s been really good: 10 appearances (nine starts), 1.92 ERA, 1.084 WHIP, but still a lot of walks (26 in 51⅔ innings).

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. If you do go there to interact with Brewers fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

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.