Chicago Cubs vs. San Francisco Giants preview, Saturday 6/10, 6:35 CT

Saturday notes...

• WHERE IS THE LONG BALL?: The Cubs have not hit a home run in five straight games, tied for their longest homerless streak since 2016. They had streaks of eight games in 2015, nine in 2012 and 10 in 2007.

197 batters have come to the plate in 51⅓ innings since Miguel Amaya hit the team’s last homer, in the third inning on Sunday at San Diego. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

• THE WALK WATCH: The Cubs walked five times Friday night. They have walked at least five times 22 times in 63 games. That gives them 239 for the season, third-most in MLB, 3.79 per game. That’s a pace for 615. The franchise record is 656, set in 2016.
• WEST IS BEST: The Cubs have played 15 games against NL West teams so far this season, going 8-7 in those contests for the best winning percentage against a division other than the AL East, against whom they have played just three games (2-1).
• WEEKDAY WARRIORS: The Cubs are 23-20 in games played Monday through Friday so far this year and 4-16 on weekends. They have won just two road games so far this year on a weekend: Sunday, April 16 at Dodger Stadium and Sunday, June 4 at Petco Park. Hopefully, they can begin to change this pattern starting tonight.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Giants lineup:

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. John Brebbia, RHP

In Kyle Hendricks’s last outing, June 5 at San Diego, he allowed three runs in the second inning, including the first long ball he’s served up this year, by Gary Sanchez.

But then he settled down, giving up just one more run and completing six innings for the first time since June 30, 2022.

He seems thisclose to breaking out and having one of those classic Professor outings we became accustomed to for so many years. You know, maybe six innings, four hits, one run, a handful of strikeouts.

Oh! He had one of those the last time he faced the Giants, September 10, 2021. Sure, most of the Giants who played in that game aren’t on the team anymore, but I can dream, can’t I?

Current Giants are batting .226 (14-for-62) vs. Kyle with three home runs (Joc Pederson, LaMonte Wade Jr., J.D. Davis).

As you can see from the chart below, John Brebbia is basically a two-pitch pitcher: Four-seam fastball and slider, with a rare changeup.

The Giants are using him as an opener tonight. He’s done that five times previously and has been reasonably good at it: 1.80 ERA, 1.400 WHIP, though it should be noted that’s an extremely small sample size, just five innings.

In three of the five games, Sean Manaea immediately followed Brebbia and in a fourth, Manaea eventually pitched. You might ask, “Why doesn’t Manaea just start these games?” A 7.54 ERA in six starts, with five home runs allowed in 22⅔ innings as a starter, is probably the answer. On the other hand, Manaea hasn’t really been that much better in relief either: 4.34 ERA, three home runs in 18⅔ innings. He’s also walked 20 in 41⅓ innings. But I’m pretty sure we’ll see Manaea at some point tonight.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Fox-TV (regional — coverage map). A reminder that if you subscribe to MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings, you can watch this game via those services if the game is not on the Fox affiliate in your market. Fox announcers: Adam Amin and Eric Karros.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Giants site McCovey Chronicles. If you do go there to interact with Giants 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.