Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Tuesday 5/31, 7:05 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Tuesday notes...

• THE NEW GUYS: Per ESPN Stats & Info, Monday’s first game marked the first Cubs game since 1944 where both starting pitchers were making their major league debuts. That 1944 Cubs game was the first game of a doubleheader September 25 against the Phillies, and the Cubs starter making his debut that day was Charlie Gassaway — of whom we have written here before.
• HE’S HOT: Rafael Ortega, last seven games: .375/.467/.500 (9-for-24), a home run, five walks, four runs scored.
• HE’S NOT: David Robertson, last six appearances: 5.68 ERA, 1.767 WHIP, .828 opponents OPS, two blown saves.
• ROOKIES WITH K’S: Matt Swarmer and Anderson Espinoza both struck out six in their MLB debuts Monday. That’s the most for a Cubs rookie in his MLB debut since Jen-Ho Tseng had six in his debut September 14, 2017 vs. the Mets.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

Justin Steele, LHP vs. Eric Lauer, LHP

USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK

It looked like Justin Steele had turned the corner on his season (1.80 ERA in three starts between May 8-21) but then he got pounded by the Reds last Thursday in Cincinnati.

Possible good news: Steele threw five shutout innings against the Brewers April 9 at Wrigley Field.

Possible bad news: Steele was pretty bad against the Brewers in Milwaukee April 30.

Eric Lauer has been really good for the Brewers this year. That includes that April 30 game, in which he struck out 11 Cubs in seven innings. Yan Gomes homered off Lauer... whoops, that doesn’t matter because Gomes is on the IL.

About all I’ve got here is that the Cubs are slightly less bad against LH starters (6-8) than RH starters (13-21).

To dust off an old BCB saying: Clearly, we are doomed.

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

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 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.