Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Wednesday 6/22, 6:05 CT

There is a chance of rain in Pittsburgh tonight that could delay or interrupt this game, so here’s the local radar for you to keep track:

Wednesday notes...

• PATTY SMARTS: Patrick Wisdom’s 461-foot home run Tuesday, his 13th of the season, was the longest of his career. It was his first since June 3 vs. the Cardinals, snapping a 52 at-ba homerless stretch, the longest of his career.
• HAPP-ENSTANCE: Ian Happ, last 20 games since May 31: .375/.452/.611 (27-for-72) with seven doubles, two triples, two home runs and 10 walks.
• WILLSON!: Willson Contreras’ .390 OBP is fourth in the NL entering Wednesday’s games behind Paul Goldschmidt, Manny Machado and Bryce Harper.
• LOOKING AHEAD: Probable pitchers for the weekend series in St. Louis... Friday: RHP Kyle Hendricks vs. RHP Andre Pallante. Saturday: TBD (possibly RHP Alec Mills) vs. RHP Miles Mikolas. Sunday: Matt Swarmer vs. RHP Jack Flaherty.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Once again, Nelson Velázquez sits on the bench. I will never understand this.

Pirates lineup:

Keegan Thompson, RHP vs. Jerad Eickhoff, RHP

Keegan Thompson’s last start was excellent, as you certainly recall.

He’s thrown nine innings against the Pirates this year, four innings in a relief outing April 22, five innings in a start May 17. The results: six hits and a walk allowed, no runs, nine strikeouts.

Keep up the good work!

The Pirates signed Jerad Eickhoff to a minor-league deal last offseason. He’s been at Triple-A Indianapolis this year and has posted a 4.84 ERA and 1.076 WHIP in 13 appearances (six starts) covering 48⅓ innings.

The last time he faced the Cubs was in 2017, so that’s largely irrelevant. He spent part of last year with the Mets, and the graphic below shows his pitch selection from 2021. This is his first MLB game of 2022.

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 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.