Chicago Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies preview, Wednesday 9/13, 2:10 CT

Wednesday notes...

• ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Tuesday evening in Colorado, the Cubs went in front, 2-0, only to fall behind, 4-2. It was the 60th time this season, in 49 different games, that they have taken a lead, then lost it. They also tied the score at 4, but never regained the lead. They have done that 22 times, in 16 games. But Tuesday’s game was only the fourth in which they did both. The others were a 4-3 loss at Miami on April 30, a 6-5 loss at Milwaukee on July 6 and a 5-3 loss at home to the White Sox on August 15. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE SYSTEM PRODUCES: The Cubs have had seven players make their major league debuts this season with outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong the most recent. The others: Miguel Amaya, Matt Mervis, Daniel Palencia, Jordan Wicks, Alexander Canario and Luke Little. The team has five players on the current roster who started the season at Double-A or lower: Amaya, Crow-Armstrong, Little, Palencia and Wicks. The Cubs have used 47 different players this season after having 69 in 2021 and 64 in 2022.
• MAKING HIS CASE FOR PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Seiya Suzuki, 13 games in September: .412/.444/.804 (21-for-51) with six doubles, a triple, four home runs, 14 RBI and nine runs scored.
• ALSO A HOT HITTER: Dansby Swanson, last 10 games since September 3: .395/.452/.605 (15-for-38) with three doubles, a triple, a home run, seven RBI and nine runs scored.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Rockies lineup:

Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Ty Blach, LHP

Jameson Taillon was brilliant last Friday against the Diamondbacks. He has shown flashes of that at times this year.

He has made one career start at Coors Field. It was in 2018, so there’s only two players currently on the Rockies who played in that game (Charlie Blackmon, Ryan McMahon). He threw a complete game, allowing two runs. It is the only CG he’s ever pitched outside of PNC Park. Only two other visiting pitchers (Lance Lynn and Patrick Corbin) have thrown CG in Coors Field since then.

Does that mean anything? Who knows, I just thought it was interesting. Do good, Jamo.

Ty Blach was once a pretty good Giants prospect, and had a couple of decent years for them. Then he got hurt, got bad, got waived, got picked up by the Orioles, got released, and got picked up by the Rockies, so here we are.

Since Blach went into the Colorado rotation after the All-Star break, he’s been... not awful (3.94 ERA, 1.380 WHIP). This month, though, has been pretty bad: 7.36 ERA and four home runs in 11 innings in two starts. Most likely, Blach is a placeholder starter for the Rockies and won’t be around in 2024.

Current Cubs are a small sample size 15-for-40 (.375) against Blach with four doubles, a triple and seven walks.

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.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Rockies site Purple Row. If you do go there to interact with Rockies 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 — also see the note at the top of this preview.

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.