Chicago Cubs vs. San Diego Padres preview, Saturday 6/3, 9:10 CT

Saturday notes...

• NOT SCORING, BUT WINNING: In their last four games, the Cubs have scored a total of eight runs, yet won three of them.

They have produced no more than eight runs in a four-game span 1,268 times since 1901. They have gone 3-1 only 35 times — just 25 that did not overlap another span. They were 3-1 while scoring a mere three runs in 1906. That span was part of a stretch in which they also were 3-1 while scoring four, five and six runs.

They were 3-1 while scoring six runs again in 1946 and 2013, while scoring seven runs nine times, and while scoring eight runs 20 times. This year’s 3-1 span is only their eighth of the Expansion Era and fourth since July 20-24, 1992.

The most recent previous span was April 25-28, 2018, when the Cubs lost at Cleveland, 4-1, then beat the Brewers at home, 1-0, 3-2, 3-0 and 3-0. The Cubs also beat the Brewers the next day, 2-0, making them 4-0 while scoring nine runs. The only other time they won four in a row with just nine runs was April 28-30, 1907, when they won at St. Louis, 3-2 and 1-0, then at Cincinnati, 1-0 and 4-3. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

• HE’S HOT: Dansby Swanson, last 12 games since May 20: .318/.375/.591 (14-for-44), a double, a triple, three home runs.
• HE’S NOT: Ian Happ, last 17 games since May 14: .183/.271/.250 (11-for-60), 26 strikeouts.
• IT HAPPENED ON THIS DATE: On Wednesday, June 3, 1987, 36 years ago today, the Cubs crushed the Astros 22-7 at Wrigley Field, scoring in every inning except the eighth. They hit six home runs: Two by Keith Moreland and one each from Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, Brian Dayett and Jim Sundberg.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Beyond the "insert other split squad joke" note here, I simply do not understand why you'd put a guy with a .273 OBP in the leadoff spot.

Padres lineup:

Drew Smyly, LHP vs. Yu Darvish, RHP

Drew Smyly’s string of outstanding starts ended last Sunday against the Reds, when he allowed five runs and didn’t finish the fifth inning. (To be fair, two of those runs scored after he left the game.)

Smyly faced the Padres April 26 at Wrigley Field, where he allowed two runs in five innings. That’s pretty good, but with this bullpen I’d like to see him go at least six.

Yu Darvish started out this year pretty well, but his last three starts have not been good: 9.00 ERA, 1.571 WHIP, four home runs in 14 innings. He got torched by the Yankees last Sunday.

The last time he faced the Cubs was June 13, 2022 at Wrigley Field and that was one of his better outings of the year — eight innings, one run, no walks, seven strikeouts. But that Cubs lineup included Frank Schwindel, Jason Heyward and Jonathan Villar.

Hoping for better tonight.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also on FS1 (no blackouts).

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.