Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Sunday 5/1, 1:10 CT

This does not sound promising, but onward we go anyway.

Sunday notes...

• MILWAUKEE IS NOT CUBS PITCHER-FRIENDLY: In the Cubs’ last 11 games at American Family Field following Alec Mills’ no-hitter on September 13, 2020, they have posted a 7.90 ERA (79 earned runs in 90 innings) and gone 2-9.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARCUS!: Marcus Stroman starts today and is celebrating his 31st birthday. The last Cubs pitcher to make a start on his birthday was Jason Hammel on September 2, 2015 against the Reds (ND in a 7-4 loss) and the last Cubs starting pitcher to post a win on his birthday was Randy Wells, who did so August 28, 2010, in a 3-2 victory at Cincinnati.
• THE LACK OF RUNS: Chicago has plated exactly one run in each of its last three games and in four of their first five games of this road trip. This is the first time the Cubs have scored one or fewer runs in three-straight contests since Sept. 18-20, 2020 vs. the Twins, and they hope to avoid scoring one or fewer runs in four straight games for the first time since doing so in five straight games, August 16-21, 2018. (The Cubs won two of those five games in 2018.)
• STRIKEOUTS: Michael Rucker struck out four in the fifth inning Saturday, including a batter who reached on a wild pitch. Rucker last night finished with six strikeouts in two innings. That makes him just the fourth Cub to record six strikeouts in two innings pitched since 1901. The others: Kevin Foster (May 11, 1997 at San Francisco), Juan Cruz (March 31, 2003 at the Mets) and Duane Underwood Jr. (Aug. 6, 2019 vs. Oakland).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

Marcus Stroman, RHP vs. Corbin Burnes, RHP

USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK

Marcus Stroman threw quite well in his last outing, against the Braves, and had a good start against the Brewers April 10 at Wrigley Field (five innings, two hits, one run).

Another one of those, please.

The Cubs hit Corbin Burnes quite well on Opening Day at Wrigley Field: five innings, four hits, three walks, three runs.

Since then in three starts, Burnes has posted an ERA of 0.87 and WHIP of 0.581, with 29 strikeouts and three walks in 20⅔ innings. So... I think we can chalk up that Opening Day outing to not being properly stretched out after the shortened Spring Training.

But — at least these Cubs have the experience of hitting Burnes pretty well. Perhaps they can carry that over into this game.

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.