Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Friday 4/22, 7:05 CT

Today’s weather forecast is not conducive for baseball. So, here’s the local radar for you to keep handy:

Honestly, I have no idea whether they’ll be able to play tonight. “As always, we await developments.”

Friday notes...

• WORDS OF WISDOM: Thursday, Patrick Wisdom extended his hitting streak to six games. In that streak he is batting .529/.579/1.177 (9-for-17) with five doubles, two homers, six runs scored and seven RBI.
• SEIYA: Seiya Suzuki went 0-for-4 Thursday, but is still leading the NL in OBP (.520) and is second in walks (13) and OPS (1.263).
• IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING WHY THE LOSING IS HAPPENING: The Cubs are batting .180 (20-for-111) in their last four games after hitting a league-leading .281 (85-for-302) in their first nine games.
• BUT: The Cubs have scored at least one run in 59 consecutive games dating back to Aug. 12, 2021. That is the longest stretch for the Cubs since they scored in 71 straight from May 11-July 31, 2019. That stretch of 59 straight games with at least one run is the longest active streak in the majors.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

This was the Cubs lineup posted this morning. The Cubs have not tweeted a lineup at this time, but I assume this one is still valid for tonight.

The Pirates lineup was not available at posting time. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Pirates lineup.

Drew Smyly, LHP vs. Jose Quintana, LHP

This is a pitching rematch of the game April 12 in Pittsburgh. Smyly threw five shutout innings, and then had another good outing in Colorado last weekend.

Smyly in his last 21 games (15 starts) since June 13, 2021 has posted a 3.16 ERA (30 earned runs in 85⅓ IP), 23 walks, 79 strikeouts and a 1.29 WHIP. The 3.16 ERA in that span ranks 14th among NL pitchers with at least 80 innings.

Quintana also had a good outing in that April 12 game, which the Cubs won 2-1. His next outing, April 17 against the Nationals: not so much. He allowed five hits, three walks and three runs. Hoping for another one of those.

This will be Quintana’s first appearance at Wrigley Field since 2019. He made four appearances for the Cubs in the shortened 2020 season, all on the road.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Pirates market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Pirates site Bucs Dugout. If you do go there to interact with Pirates 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 2022 Game Thread procedure will be like last years, 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.