Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers preview, Friday 4/21, 1:20 CT

Friday notes...

• STREAK, BROKEN: Unil James Outman’s tie-breaking grand slam last night the Cubs had pitched 77⅔ completed innings over nine games without giving up more than two runs in any of them. The streak began after they surrendered five runs to the Mariners in the second inning on April 11. During the streak, the Cubs allowed two runs in three innings, one run in 11 and none in 63⅔. The grand slam was the first inning of more than one run in 45 innings, since the walk-off, two-run single by the Dodgers last Saturday. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• HE’S HOT: Cody Bellinger, last 14 games since April 4: .352/.419/.574 (19-for-54) with 14 runs, three home runs and nine RBI. He’s reached safely in 13 of those 14 games.
• SO IS HE: Nico Hoerner has reached base safely in a career-high 16-straight games dating back to April 2, and has a five-game hitting streak in which he is batting .375/.423/.458 (9-for-24). He’s also not struck out in his last 33 plate appearances dating to April 14.
• TEAMWORK: The Cubs’ team BA of .282 ranks second in MLB to the Rays (.288) and their on-base percentage of .350 ranks third behind the Rays and Cardinals. Lastly, the Cubs’ average of 5.61 runs per game ranks third in MLB behind the Rays (7.0) and Rangers (6.22).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Dodgers lineup:

Drew Smyly, LHP vs. Julio Urias, LHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

This is another pitching rematch from last weekend, Sunday in Los Angeles. It was Drew Smyly’s best start of the year, and the Cubs managed to get to Julio Urias for just enough runs to win.

Hopefully, this is another game just like that one.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Dodgers market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Dodgers site True Blue LA. If you do go there to interact with Dodgers 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.