Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets preview, Wednesday 8/9, 6:10 CT

Late breaking news:

Wednesday notes...

• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner has stolen 28 bases in the 105 games he has played. If he plays in all of the Cubs’ 48 remaining games and steals at the same pace, he will finish with 41. That would tie for the 15th most by a Cub since 1901, with Topsy Hartsel (1901), Jimmy Slagle (1902), Joe Tinker (1904) and Ivan de Jesus (1978). Only two Cubs have had even 35 steals in the last quarter century: Juan Pierre, 58 in 2006, and Eric Young Sr., 54 in 2000. Brian McRae had 37 in 1996, and Sammy Sosa 36 in 1993. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• STILL EN FUEGO: Cody Bellinger is on a 10-game hitting streak in which he is batting .447/.488/.684 (17-for-38) with three doubles, two home runs, 10 RBI and 10 runs scored. He would need 353 plate appearances to be a qualified hitter; he currently has 351. If he qualified as of today, he’d rank fourth in the NL in BA and sixth in SLG and OPS.
• ALSO HOT: Mike Tauchman, last 13 games since July 27: .429/.468/.738 (18-for-42) with four doubles, three home runs, 10 RBI and 11 runs scored.
• WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY? PLENTY!: Today’s game is the last of a stretch for the Cubs of playing on 16 consecutive days. In the 15 games so far they are 11-4. That’s the best record in the National League over that span and second only to the Mariners (11-3). The Cubs also have the second-best record in MLB since June 8, when they were swept by the Angels, at 33-19. Only the Braves (33-16) are better.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Mets lineup:

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. David Peterson, LHP

Kyle Hendricks had a rough go of it in his last start, so of it we will not speak again.

His first start this year, coming off his shoulder injury, was against the Mets May 25 at Wrigley Field. It wasn’t great, he struggled at times, but he did get out of it without allowing a long ball, and the last run charged to him scored after he left the game.

Kyle has had some good starts this year and some bad ones. He could still wind up with a reasonable final record. In four career starts at Citi Field he has a 2.66 ERA and 0.930 WHIP and current Mets are hitting .217 (13-for-60) against him.

David Peterson takes over a Mets rotation spot after the trades of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. He’s made 18 appearances this year (12 starts) and the results have not been good, and he’s been much worse as a starter (6.12 ERA, nine HR in 57⅓ innings) than in relief (2.25 ERA).

Current Cubs are batting .205 (9-for-44) against Peterson, but I should note that the Cubs have been better vs. LHP and LH starters this year. Hopefully that continues tonight.

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 Mets market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Mets site Amazin’ Avenue. If you do go there to interact with Mets 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.