Chicago Cubs vs. Seattle Mariners preview, Tuesday 4/11, 6:40 CT

Tuesday notes...

• SOME FIVE-RUN FACTS: Last night’s win was the Cubs’ 1,000th since 1901 in which they and their opponent have scored a total of five runs. They have won 578 by 3-2, 295 by 4-1 and 127 by 5-0. They have lost 963 games in which there were five total runs, including 547 by 3-2. The 578 wins by 3-2 are their most by any score. The runner-up is 4-3, with 516. Last night’s win was their first by 3-2 win this season. They had six last year. Their record in a season is 11, in 1989. They had 10 in 1907, 1909 and 1963. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• NICO NOTES: The walkoff hit for Nico Hoerner Monday was the first of his career. He is now batting .340/.364/.415 (18-for-53) as a leadoff hitter in his career. Small sample size, to be sure, but it looks like that’s the right spot for him.
• RISPy BUSINESS: The Cubs were 4-for-11 with RISP in Monday’s game and for the 2023 season so far, they are batting .333/.400/.449 (26-for-78) with six doubles and a home run with RISP.
• UNDER THE LIGHTS: Monday was the Cubs’ first home night game of 2023. Since lights were installed at the Friendly Confines in 1988, the Cubs are 451-401 (.529) in 852 home regular season night games.

Cubs lineup:

Mariners lineup:

Hayden Wesneski, RHP vs. Chris Flexen, RHP

Hayden Wesneski had a rough outing last week against the Reds, so hopefully this one will be better.

He has never faced the Mariners or anyone on their active roster, so perhaps that will be to his advantage.

Chris Flexen has made one start and one relief appearance so far this year, and has allowed three runs in nine total innings. As you can see by the chart below, he relies on a varied pitch selection rather than velocity. He has a relatively low K rate for a modern pitcher (6.3 per nine innings).

Most current Cubs have not faced him, though three of them (Trey Mancini, Eric Hosmer, Dansby Swanson) have two hits off Flexen in very small sample sizes.

Wesneski hasn’t thrown 100 pitches yet this year, so his pitch chart below is from 2022. Flexen’s is from 2023.

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 Mariners site Lookout Landing. If you do go there to interact with Mariners 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 2023 Game Thread procedure will be like last year’s, 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.