Chicago Cubs vs. Baltimore Orioles preview, Sunday 6/18, 12:05 CT

Sunday notes...

• DOUBLE DIGIT RUN SCORING: The Cubs followed up their 10-3 win on Friday with a 3-2 win yesterday. Since the start of 2000, the Cubs are 130-136 in their next games after having scored at least 10 runs. They were 3-5 in such games this season until the last two series, in which they have gone 3-0, with wins Wednesday and Thursday against the Pirates, then yesterday against the Orioles. This is the first time the Cubs have won two straight games that followed double-digit games since 2019. In 2018, they lost their first five such games, then won 11 in a row before losing their last of the season. In all 266 double-digit games, the Cubs have averaged 12 runs. In all their next games, they have averaged 4.8 — but 6.8 in their wins and 2.6 in their losses. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• MOVING UP THE LIST: If Dansby Swanson completes Sunday’s game without an error, he will match Don Kessinger for the second-longest errorless streak by a Cubs shortstop. Swanson has gone 53 straight games at shortstop without an error dating to April 20 (179 total chances). Kessinger had a 54-game streak in 1969 (274 total chances). The franchise record is 60 games, by Mick Kelleher, spanning the 1976-79 seasons (199 total chances).
• THE STARTERS: Cubs starters have a 3.92 ERA (162 earned runs in 372⅓ innings), second-best in the National League (Braves, 3.87) and sixth-best in MLB. The team’s 1.198 WHIP is also second in the NL (Dodgers, 1.192) and sixth in MLB.
• RELIEF HELP: Adbert Alzolay has posted a 1.04 ERA (two earned runs in 17⅓ innings) in his last 14 games since May 6, walking three, striking out 15 and posting a WHIP of 0.808. Julian Merryweather has posted a 1.09 ERA (three earned runs in 24⅔ innings) since April 17 and allowed 19 hits and 11 walks with 38 strikeouts in 25 appearances.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

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

Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Dean Kremer, RHP

Jameson Taillon has shown some improvement over his last few starts. Some. There are still too many runs allowed and not enough length in the starts — his last outing was his first all year of six innings.

Last year he made four starts vs. the Orioles and posted a 4.76 ERA and 1.529 WHIP. Uh... that’s not so good. Let’s look elsewhere. Current Orioles are batting .262 (17-for-65) against him with four home runs. Austin Hays is 6-for-12.

Good luck, Jameson.

Dean Kremer was drafted by the Dodgers in the 14th round in 2016 and came to Baltimore in the Manny Machado trade two years later.

He had a pretty good year in 2022 for the O’s; this year has not been quite as good. He has never faced the Cubs and only two Cubs (Trey Mancini and Mike Tauchman) have ever faced him.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Peacock (how to watch).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Orioles site Camden Chat. If you do go there to interact with Orioles 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.