Chicago Cubs vs. San Francisco Giants preview, Sunday 6/11, 3:05 CT

Sunday notes...

• DEFEATING THE GIANTS: This is the Cubs’ 119th series of any length at San Francisco since 1958. They have swept a three-game series only four times: 1967, 1977, 1993 and 2013. Since the last sweep, before this weekend they had played eight more series and won none of them, going 8-18. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• SUNNY SKIES: Julian Merryweather, last 22 games since April 17: 1.25 ERA (three earned runs in 21⅔ innings), 1.200 WHIP, 1.70 FIP, 10 walks and 32 strikeouts.
• ANOTHER HOT PITCHER: Adbert Alzolay, last six games since May 26: 0.00 ERA (6⅓ innings), three hits and no walks allowed, eight strikeouts, 0.75 FIP, two saves.
• THE STREAK CONTINUES: Dansby Swanson has gone 47 consecutive games at shortstop since April 20 without committing an error (149 total chances). The franchise record is 60, set by Mick Kelleher from September 7, 1976-August 21, 1979. (Kelleher did make errors at other positions during that span, but none at shortstop.) The MLB record is 110, set by Mike Bordick of the Orioles in 2002.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

The Giants lineup was not available at posting time. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Giants lineup.

Hayden Wesneski, RHP vs. John Brebbia, RHP

Hayden Wesneski was charged with four runs (two earned) in 4⅔ innings last Tuesday in Anaheim, and that line might have looked better if Brandon Hughes hadn’t allowed a couple of Wesneski baserunners to score after Hayden left the game. (Plus, maybe the Cubs win that game if the bullpen hadn’t been so bad.)

You can see Wesneski being thisclose to being a dominant starter in this league. Perhaps Sunday will be the day it happens. Cubs pitchers have allowed the Giants eight hits and two runs in 18 innings so far in this series. Wesneski, who has never faced the Giants or anyone on their active roster, might be just the guy to continue that.

John Brebbia threw 19 pitches Saturday and retired all six Cubs hitters he faced. So... the Giants are going to try this again, using him as an opener for Sunday’s game. He also threw 26 pitches last Tuesday. Hopefully, enough Cubs hitters saw him Sunday, maybe they can figure him out before they get to the “bulk” guy — and yes, that’s what some call him:

I don’t make up the terms, I just post ‘em.

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 Giants market territories).

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.