Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Saturday 4/30, 6:10 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Saturday notes...

• MAYBE HE SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE IT: In the Cubs’ 10 games at American Family Field since Alec Mills’ no-hitter on September 13, 2020, they have posted a 7.90 ERA (72 earned runs in 82 innings) and gone 2-8.
• KEEPING THE LINE MOVING: The Cubs have scored at least one run in 66 consecutive games dating back to August 12, 2021. That’s the longest stretch for the Cubs since they scored in 71 straight games from May 11-July 31, 2019 and is the longest active streak. The franchise record is 127, from June 16, 1958-May 13, 1959.
• SEIYA UPDATE: Entering the final day of April, Seiya Suzuki leads all rookies in extra-base hits, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS, walks and is tied for the most runs scored (13).
• GREAT CAREER START: Alfonso Rivas last night was 2-for-4 in his 25th career MLB game since he was first promoted by Chicago last September. In those first 25 career games has hit .361/.435/.492 (22-for-61) with two doubles, two homers and nine RBI. That .361 BA is the highest mark for any Cub’s first 25 games since Mike Fontenot batted .385/.431/.630 (25-for-65) in his first 25 career games spanning the 2005 and 2007 seasons.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

Justin Steele, LHP vs. Eric Lauer, LHP

Justin Steele made two pretty good starts this year, but the last two have been... ugh. The biggest issue has been walks — over his last two starts, seven walks in just 5⅔ innings, and 127 pitches (just 68 strikes) thrown in those two outings. That’s not going to cut it.

Fortunately (perhaps), Steele already has a good outing in the books against the Brewers this year, five shutout innings on April 9 with just one walk. How about doing that again?

Eric Lauer has quietly become one of the better starters in the league. Last time out, April 24 against the Phillies, he struck out 13 in six shutout innings. (Of course, several of those K’s were helped along by Angel Hernandez, so draw your own conclusions.)

This doesn’t sound promising for the Cubs:

Statcast

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

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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.