Chicago Cubs vs. Houston Astros preview, Friday 6/27, 7:10 CT

The Cubs open a series against the first-place Astros.

Friday notes…

• SHUTTING THEM OUT: The Cubs, coming off back-to-back shutouts at St. Louis, have held opponents scoreless in three consecutive games eight times since 1901. The first four were in 1907, 1909, 1918 and 1919. The next three were in 1969, 1971 and 1976. The last time was July 21-24, 1992, with the third game coming at Houston, 1-0, after wins at Cincinnati by 1-0 and 3-0. The Cubs have come oh-so-close to a third straight shutout twice in recent years. After two in a row at Miami in 2019, they blanked the Diamondbacks at home until one out in the ninth.In the final three games of last season, they shut out the visiting Reds twice, then didn’t allow a run through nine innings, only to give up three in the 10th. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner has a 12-game on-base streak in which he is batting .349/.378/.442 (15-for-43) with a double, a home run, four RBI and five runs scored.
• HOT AGAIN: Carson Kelly, last six games since June 19: .438/.471/.500 (7-for-16) with a double and only two strikeouts.
• WHAT A RELIEF: Drew Pomeranz recorded his 24th straight appearance without an earned run allowed, the longest active streak in MLB and tied with Andrés Muñoz for the longest such streak in MLB this season. It’s also the longest streak by a Cubs pitcher to start a season and the longest since Andrew Chafin had a 26-game streak from May 8 to July 21, 2021.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Astros lineup:

Cade Horton, RHP vs. Brandon Walter, LHP

Cade Horton seems to be getting better with each start. Last time out he had some defensive miscues behind him, otherwise he might have had a better line. He did throw 90 pitches that game, the second time in his professional career he’s broken the 90 mark. At least in this game, indoors, he won’t have to deal with the heat and humidity the team faced in St. Louis.

He’s never faced the Astros or anyone on their active roster.

Brandon Walter was drafted by the Red Sox in 2019 in a round that doesn’t exist anymore — the 26th. He pitched for them briefly in 2023, and not well (6.26 ERA in nine relief appearances). He missed all of last year with a shoulder injury, Boston released him and the Astros picked him up.

He’s made four starts for them. Three were pretty good, but the most recent wasn’t — seven runs in six innings against the Angels June 21.

I have no specific memory of this, but Walter threw two relief innings against the Cubs July 15, 2023 at Wrigley Field. He allowed six hits and two runs, but then, many of those guys aren’t on the team anymore.

And he’s lefthanded, and the Cubs have had trouble vs. LH starters. Hopefully that changes tonight.

Baseball Savant

Baseball Savant

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 live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Astros site The Crawfish Boxes. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals 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.

Discuss amongst yourselves.