Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets preview, Tuesday 9/13, 6:10 CT

Tuesday notes...

• A FUTURE CLOSER?: Cubs reliever Brandon Hughes picked up Monday’s save, his fifth, throwing 1⅓ innings. In 14 appearances of more than one inning, the southpaw has posted a 1.59 ERA (four earned runs in 22⅔ innings) with a .104 batting average against (8-for-77).
• WEIRD MCKINSTRY: Zach McKinstry is 6-for-9 over his last two games with a double, triple and home run. He has raised his OPS from .499 to .624 in that span. Of his 20 hits as a Cub, 13 have come in five multi-hit games and he’s gone hitless in 17 of his 29 games as a Cub.
• HE’S HOT: Rafael Ortega, last 18 games since August 18: .310/.400/.476 (13-for-42) with a double, two home runs and seven walks.
• HE’S NOT: Christopher Morel, last 20 games since August 20: .179/.233/.286 (10-for-56) with 25 strikeouts.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Mets lineup:

Adrian Sampson, RHP vs. Jacob deGrom, RHP

USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK

Adrian Sampson has been pretty consistent all year. He started against the Mets July 17 at Wrigley Field and threw 5⅓ innings, allowing two runs. That could be good enough to win most times, but not when you’re facing...

Jacob deGrom.

deGrom missed the first four months of this season with a shoulder injury. He’s been pretty much lights-out since his return, posting a 1.66 ERA, 0.554 (!) WHIP — that means just 24 baserunners in 43⅓ innings — and striking out 63.

This does not bode well for a Cubs team that strikes out a lot.

Most of the current Cubs have not faced him. Will that be an advantage? (NARRATOR: “It won’t be an advantage.”)

Good luck, Cubs hitters.

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 Mets site Amazin’ Avenue. If you do go there to interact with Mets 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.