Chicago Cubs vs. Miami Marlins preview, Friday 5/5, 1:20 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Friday notes...

• SOME DEBUTS: Here are how some earlier much-anticipated Cubs did in their first game for the team, as we await Matt Mervis’ debut:
  Ernie Banks: 0 for 3, one walk
  Kris Bryant: 0 for 4, three strikeouts
  Starlin Castro: 2 for 5 (triple, homer), six RBI
  Andre Dawson: 0 for 4, 1 RBI, one strikeout
  Mark Grace: 2 for 5 (both singles), caught stealing
  Derrek Lee: 0 for 3, one walk, two strikeouts
  Anthony Rizzo: 2 for 4 (single, double), one RBI
  Ryne Sandberg: 0 for 3, two strikeouts
  Ron Santo: 2 for 4 (single, double), three RBI
  Billy Williams: 0 for 4, one RBI, one strikeout (All courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• ICYMI: Thursday’s game, with a time of 1:55, was the Cubs’ first sub-two hour regular season game in more than 13 years. The previous such game happened September 25, 2009, a two-hit, 3-0 shutout thrown by Carlos Zambrano against the Giants in San Francisco that took 1:56. The last time the Cubs played a game in 1:55 or shorter was June 21, 2002, a 2-1 win over the Cardinals thrown by Jon Lieber that took 1:49. That’s also the last sub-two hour game at Wrigley Field.
• RISP-Y BUSINESS: The Cubs were 9-for-57 (.156) with runners in scoring position on the seven-game road trip to Miami and Washington. Worse, with the bases loaded they went 1-for-9 (.111) with five strikeouts and a sacrifice fly. Those numbers are a big reason why the Cubs went 1-6 on the trip.
• RUN SCORING: Despite the losses the last two days, the Cubs’ run differential stands at +42, tied for second in the National League with the Dodgers and tied for fourth in MLB behind the Rays, Rangers and Braves.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Marlins lineup:

Justin Steele, LHP vs. Edward Cabrera, RHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Steele has allowed two or fewer earned runs in all six of his starts this year, an impressive streak. The Marlins also touched him up for an unearned run last Sunday in Miami, and that wound up the difference in a 4-3 Cubs loss.

Steele has been particularly good at Wrigley Field this year, allowing just one earned run in 17⅓ innings, an 0.52 ERA, along with an 0.981 WHIP.

Keep up the good work!

Edward Cabrera is leading the major leagues in walks allowed with 25. That’s in just 27 innings, 8.3 per nine innings. Or, put another way, he has walked 19.8 percent of all batters he’s faced this year. That’s a lot.

Five of those walks came in five innings against the Cubs last Saturday in Miami. Which might have helped the Cubs win the game, except for Caleb Kilian’s bad outing. Cabrera also struck out 12, which was a career high.

So... keep drawing the walks, Cubs, just try not to strike out so much.

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 Marlins market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Marlins site Fish Stripes. If you do go there to interact with Marlins 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.