Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Friday 6/24, 7:15 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Friday notes...

• ICYMI:

• RELIEF NOTES: The Cubs bullpen has posted a 2.97 ERA in 33⅓ innings pitched since June 16. In that span, opponents are batting .200 (25-for-125) and Cubs relievers are averaging 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
• SATURDAY’S GAME: Adrian Sampson will start for the Cubs Saturday afternoon.
• THE MOREL FILE: Since Christopher Morel’s MLB debut May 17, he is second among all MLB rookies with 22 RBI (Bobby Witt Jr. leads with 23.)

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Note: Jonathan Villar is in this lineup; he’s been DFA. When the Cubs post a new lineup, I’ll update this game preview.

Updated lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

Also of interest for this game/series:

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. Andre Pallante, RHP

Kyle Hendricks is having a rough year. This, you already know.

He has not faced the Cardinals yet this year. Historically, he has pitched well against them — 24 starts, 2.82 ERA, 1.070 WHIP in 153x innings. His numbers are even a bit better at Busch Stadium — 10 starts, 2.53 ERA, 1.107 WHIP in 62x innings. Even in his bad 2021 season, Kyle threw well against St. Louis: Four starts, 2.49 ERA, 1.105 WHIP in 25x innings.

So that’s all I’ve got here — history. Kyle once nearly threw a no-hitter in Busch Stadium (it was broken up in the ninth, September 12, 2016).

Hopefully this game is where Kyle starts back on the road to success.

Andre Pallante made 17 relief appearances for the Cardinals before they put him in their rotation at the beginning of this month. His first start was June 4 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, and he allowed one run in four innings.

His three other starts have ranged from mediocre to good, and his pitch count has maxed out at 78, so I’d expect him to be somewhat limited with pitches tonight, too.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Apple TV+ (how to watch). Announcers: Melanie Newman, Chris Young, Hannah Keyser and Brooke Fletcher.

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.