Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Thursday 6/2, 7:05 CT

Thursday notes...

• HE’S HOT: Willson Contreras is on a seven-game hitting streak in which he’s batting .370/.469/.778 (10-for-27) with two doubles, three home runs and seven runs scored.
• HE’S NOT: Alfonso Rivas is 1-for-18 over his last seven games with seven strikeouts.
• THE STREAK CONTINUES: The Cubs have stolen at least one base in 12 straight games. It is the longest stretch for the team since they had a 14-game streak from September 5-19, 1986. (H/T: Ed Hartig)
• THE BULLPEN: The Cubs’ bullpen recorded 10 strikeouts in Wednesday’s game, adding to their MLB-leading strikeout total (241).
• THE CLOSE ONES: The Cubs’ last five games have been decided by two runs or fewer (2-3), and overall this year, the Cubs have played 29 games decided by two runs or fewer and are 11-18 in those games, so they are 10-11 in games decided by three runs or more.
• FROM CARDINALS NOTES: The Cardinals have won five straight games at Wrigley Field dating to July 10, 2021, and with a win tonight would post their first six-game win streak on Chicago’s North Side since 1962 (4/13-6/27).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

Keegan Thompson, RHP vs. Matthew Liberatore, LHP

USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK

Keegan Thompson has been good enough so far this year to be a candidate for the NL All-Star team.

He made six appearances (one start) against the Cardinals last year and posted a 3.72 ERA and 1.345 WHIP, with 14 strikeouts in 9⅔ innings. He’s a better pitcher this year, too. As a starter this year: 1.93 ERA, 1.214 WHIP (three starts). At Wrigley Field this year: 1.09 ERA, 0.811 WHIP in seven appearances, one start (24⅔ innings). All are fairly small sample sizes, but I have liked what I’ve seen from Thompson this year. A lot.

Matthew Liberatore came to the Cardinals in the deal that sent Randy Arozarena and Jose Martinez to Tampa Bay. This seems to be working out for both teams, even though the original centerpiece of that trade (Martinez) is out of baseball now.

This is his third MLB start. First two: 3.72 ERA, 1.448 WHIP, five walks in 9⅔ innings. His walk rate was better in the minor leagues. He has obviously never faced the Cubs or anyone on the Cubs active roster. The Cubs are 7-8 vs. LH starters this year (14-21 vs. RH starters), for whatever that’s worth.

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 Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals 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.