Chicago Cubs vs. New York Yankees preview, Saturday 7/8, 12:05 CT

Today’s roster move: Here

Saturday notes...

• AN AMAZING FIRST: Jameson Taillon last night became the first pitcher for any team at the current Yankee Stadium to shut out the Yankees for at least eight innings while allowing no more than one hit. It was the Yankees’ 1,133rd game at the park since it opened in 2009.

Five pitchers had performed the feat for seven innings: Philip Humber of the White Sox (2011), Chris Sale of the Red Sox (2018), and Michael Kopech of the White Sox, Cristian Javier of the Astros and Brady Singer of the Royals (all 2022). Javier gave up no hits; the 4 others, one.

The last pitcher to do it for eight or more innings at the original stadium was Bartolo Colon of the Red Sox, who threw a complete-game one-hitter on Sept. 18, 2000. Taillon and Colon are among 19 total pitchers who did it for at least eight innings. The first seven did it before the original Yankee Stadium opened in 1923. Four of the 18 were no-hitters, by Cy Young (1908), Ray Caldwell (1919), Bob Feller (1945) and Virgil Trucks (1952). The earlier one-hitters since the last no-hitter were by Billy Rohr and Jim Palmer (both 1967), Ray Culp and Luis Tiant (both 1968), Moose Haas (1985) and Dave Stieb (1989). All pitched 9 innings.

(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

• MAYBE THEY SHOULD CONSIDER IT: Knowing that the jersey they wear has nothing to do with wins and losses, the Cubs have played better on the road wearing the blue alternate jersey (9-7) than the road gray (10-17). Couldn’t hurt to keep wearing the blue, right? (The Cubs wore their home white pinstripes for one road game, the first game in London, which they won.)
• THAT OTHER LEAGUE: With Friday’s win, the Cubs returned to .500, 14-14, in interleague play in 2023. That includes a 3-3 mark in their last six interleague games dating to June 16 (2-1 series win vs. Baltimore & 1-2 series loss vs. Cleveland). The Cubs are 5-2 against the A.L. East with 2-1 series wins vs. Tampa Bay (May 29-31) and vs. Baltimore (June 16-18). The next five Cubs games will be vs. A.L. East clubs, with the two remaining in New York and three after the All-Star break vs. Boston at Wrigley Field. Overall, the Cubs will play 46 games vs. A.L. teams this year.
• EN FUEGO: Cody Bellinger has a 13-game hitting streak, which is a career high for him. It also matches the longest by any Cub this year (Christopher Morel). During the streak, Bellinger is batting .479/.500/.667 (23-for-48) with three doubles, two home runs, 12 runs scored and only four strikeouts.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Yankees lineup:

Drew Smyly, LHP vs. Gerrit Cole, RHP

Drew Smyly had a bad outing in his first start of 2023. Then he went on a nine-start run with a 1.78 ERA and 0.849 WHIP, with 48 strikeouts and only 10 walks in 50⅔ innings.

That’s really good!

What has followed that, though, is not: Last seven starts, 6.49 ERA, 1.846 WHIP, seven home runs in 34⅔ innings.

Which is the real Smyly?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

All I know is that he’s going to have to be better this afternoon. Smyly has not faced the Yankees since he was with the Rays seven years ago. The only Yankee who has faced him more than a handful of times is Josh Donaldson, and Donaldson has crushed Smyly: 10-for-20 (.500), three doubles, three home runs, three walks. Stop Donaldson and Smyly might have a chance today.

Gerrit Cole is having his usual good year, though his K rate is down a bit. He’s been a bit more hittable over his last eight starts (3.83 ERA) than his first 10 (2.01 ERA), but that’s still pretty good.

Cole has not faced the Cubs since 2019, when he was with the Astros. Oddly, Tucker Barnhart has hit him well: 4-for-13 (.308) with two walks. Dansby Swanson has homered twice off Cole.

Good luck, Cubs.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. You can find out if Marquee is available via a provider in your area here. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Brewers market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today..

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Yankees site Pinstripe Alley. If you do go there to interact with Yankees 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.