Chicago Cubs vs. Philadelphia Phillies preview, Saturday 5/20, 3:05 CT

Saturday notes...

• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner tied his career high last night with four RBI. He had four in his first big league games at San Diego on Sept. 9, 2019, then did it again in his fifth game, four days later, at home against the Pirates. Before last night, he had done it only once more, in 277 games: April 19, at home against the Dodgers. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE MOREL FILES: Christopher Morel has scored at least one run in each of his first nine games of this season. The franchise record (since 1900) is 13, set by Hank Sauer in 1954. Morel also has a hit in each of his first nine games this year. The franchise record (since 1900) is 16, set by Vance Law in 1988.
• THE SCORING STREAK: The Cubs have scored at least one run in each of their first 44 games in 2023, just the second time in the expansion era (since 1961) the team has gotten on the board in each of its first 44 contests. The only longer streak was 47 games in 1995. The team also scored in its last 10 games of 2022, so is currently on a streak of scoring in 54 straight games. The franchise record for scoring in consecutive games is 127, set in 1958-59.
• HE’S HOT: Seiya Suzuki, last eight games since May 10: .414./500/.966 (1.466 OPS), four doubles, four home runs, six walks. His season OPS is up to .881.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Phillies lineup:

Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Aaron Nola, RHP

Jameson Taillon’s first few starts as a Cub have been, shall we say, underwhelming. Of the seven outings, only one can really be seen as good, and he went on the injured list right after that. He might not even be 100 percent yet, and he’s carrying a devilish 6.66 ERA.

He last faced the Phillies in 2021 and — whoops, that one wasn’t any good either.

Current Phillies are batting .233 (14-for-60) against him with two home runs (Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins).

Aaron Nola is another previously good starter who’s been struggling this year, though his last six starts (3.57 ERA) have been a bit better.

Cubs batters scored four runs off him in six innings September 28, 2022 at Wrigley Field. That included a home run by Christopher Morel, who’s been making a habit of hitting home runs lately. Why not another one today?

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 Phillies site The Good Phight. If you do go there to interact with Phillies 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.