Saturday notes…
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TWO IS USUALLY ENOUGH: The Cubs have allowed no more than two runs in eight of their 13 games, but have lost two of the eight, both by 2-0. Last year, they were 51-7 when giving up two or fewer runs, including 13-5 when giving up exactly two. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
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SIX IS USUALLY ENOUGH: In yesterday’s loss, the Cubs made six hits and limited the Pirates to three. Before then, the Cubs had won all six previous games this season in which they had outhit their opponent. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
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THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner has a 12-game on-base streak in which he is batting .357/.481/.571 (15-for-42) with six doubles, a home run, nine RBI and nine walks.
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GOOD STARTING: Cubs starting pitchers have a 2.47 ERA in the 13 games so far this year, which leads the NL and is second in MLB (Yankees, 2.40).
Cubs lineup:
The Pirates lineup was not available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the Pirates lineup.
Edward Cabrera, RHP vs. Braxton Ashcraft, RHP
Edward Cabrera has not only been the Cubs’ best starter so far this year, he’s been one of the top starters anywhere in MLB, alllowing just eight of the 41 hitters he’s faced so far to reach base, no runs allowed and nine strikeouts in 11.2 innings. The only little glitch is six walks, and that was an issue for him in Miami, so hopefully it doesn’t become one here.
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Cabrera hasn’t faced the Pirates since 2023, and the only current Pirate who has more than a couple of at-bats against him is Marcell Ozuna (2-for-11 with four strikeouts).
Braxton Ashcraft did pretty well in his rookie season last year — 2.71 ERA, 1.249 WHIP in 26 appearances (eight starts). This year he’s going to be a full-time member of the Pirates rotation and he has made two pretty good starts to date, completing six innings in both. In his last outing, April 5 vs. the Orioles, he struck out eight.
He made two starts against the Cubs last year (plus one relief appearance) and allowed four runs in 11 total innings, with 10 strikeouts. Michael Busch homered off him in one of those outings. Pete Crow-Armstrong is 3-for-4 with two doubles.
In case you were wondering, he is not related to Graham Ashcraft of the Reds. But the two families did look into it last year before figuring out that they are not related.
Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.
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Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.
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 Pirates 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 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.
You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).
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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.
The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.
You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.
Discuss amongst yourselves.
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