Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Friday 8/15, 1:20 CT
REASON FOR HOPE?: The Cubs are 9-0 this season in first games at home following a road trip. They are 2-7 in first games on the road. (Courtesy BCB's JohnW53)
IT'S NOT THE PITCHING: In their last four series, each of three games, the Cubs have given up series totals of 7, 9, 9 and 8 runs — and they have lost all but the first series, when they won two of three at home vs. the Orioles. They lost two of three at home to the Reds, then two of three at St. Louis and Toronto. (Courtesy BCB's JohnW53)
IT'S THE OFFENSE: The Cubs scored nine runs last Saturday at St. Louis. In the four games before that, they had scored a total of nine. In the four games since then, they have scored a total of eight. (Courtesy BCB's JohnW53)
KEEPING IT GOING: Matt Shaw, 23 games since the All-Star break: .324/.361/.779 (22-for-68) with five doubles, a triple, eight home runs, 16 RBI, four stolen bases and 14 runs scored.
Here are today's particulars.
Cubs lineup:
Pirates lineup:
Colin Rea, RHP vs. Braxton Ashcraft, RHP
Just when you think Colin Rea is past his sell-by date, he sucks you back in with an outstanding outing like the one he had last Saturday against the Cardinals.
Rea has faced the Pirates twice this year and had essentially the same numbers both times: six innings, four hits, two runs. I think we'd take one just like that this afternoon.
Braxton Ashcraft was the Pirates' second-round pick out of high school in Texas in 2018. He made his MLB debut in May and has made 18 appearances this year, two of them starts. He's maxed out at 56 pitches, so I wouldn't expect him to go more than four innings or so this afternoon.
The results have been decent so far, with a 3.19 ERA and 2.81 FIP. He threw two innings of relief against the Cubs June 14 at Wrigley Field and retired all six batters he faced, two by strikeout.
He is not related to Reds right-hander Graham Ashcraft.
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 Pirates market territories).
Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.
MLB.com Gameday
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Pirates site Bucs Dugout. If you do go there to interact with Blue Jays 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 2025 Game Thread procedure will be identical to last year's.
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.
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