Chicago Cubs vs. San Diego Padres preview, Friday 6/2, 8:40 CT

Friday notes...

• ONE-RUN WOES: The Cubs are 4-11 so far in games decided by one run. If they continue at that pace, they will end the season at 12-33. They have never finished a full season with fewer than 15 wins by one run. They won 10 in the 60-game 2020 season and 13 in the 113-game 1994 season. They have lost more than 33 games by one run in four seasons: 1916 (23-37), 1974 (30-36), 2002 (18-36) and 1996 (21-34). (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• SOME POSSIBLE REASONS FOR THOSE ONE-RUN WOES: Cubs relievers have the worst ERA among N.L. teams (4.60) and rank 27th overall. And, they rank 18th in OPS with RISP.
• THE WALK WATCH: The Cubs have walked 210 times in the 55 games so far, 3.82 per game. That’s a pace for 619 for the season. The franchise record is 656, set in 2016.
• HOT HITTERS: Mike Tauchman, since his recall May 19: .355/.475/.387 (11-for-31), a double, seven walks, and Seiya Suzuki, last 18 games since May 10: .349/.447/.683 (22-for-63) with six doubles, five home runs, 12 walks and 11 runs scored.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Padres lineup:

Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Michael Wacha, RHP

I suspect that if Jameson Taillon doesn’t show up well in this start, he’s going to head back to the injured list. The fact that he hasn’t gone more than 80 pitches in any of the five starts since his return from the IL hints that he’s still injured. Why they wouldn’t have just done these as a rehab assignment is beyond me.

Anyway. Taillon hasn’t faced the Padres since 2018, which is largely irrelevant now. Current Padres are 17-for-79 (.215) vs. Taillon with two home runs (Matt Carpenter, Gary Sanchez). Incidentally, Sanchez and Taillon were teammates with the Yankees in 2021, for whatever that’s worth.

Michael Wacha allowed three runs in five innings against the Cubs April 26 at Wrigley Field, including a home run by Trey Mancini. (Yeah, I didn’t remember that either.)

Wacha had a very good May: 0.84 ERA, 0.719 WHIP in five starts, including seven innings of one-hit ball vs the Royals on May 15.

The Cubs have their work cut out for them tonight.

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 Padres site Gaslamp Ball. If you do go there to interact with Padres 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.