Chicago Cubs vs. Houston Astros preview, Saturday 6/28, 6:15 CT

The Cubs look to even up the series in Houston.

Saturday notes…

• CROOKED NUMBERS, AND NOT THE GOOD KIND: The Cubs gave up four runs in the third inning last night and three in the fourth. They had yielded at least three runs in multiple innings of only three previous games: three and four at San Diego on April 14, three and five at home vs. the Dodgers on April 22 and three and six at home vs. the Phillies on April 26. They have played 54 games since the last of those three. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE NICO FILES: Nico Hoerner, first 74 games of 2025: no home runs, .354 SLG. Nico Hoerner, last four games of 2025: two home runs, .857 SLG.
• HOPING HISTORY DOES NOT REPEAT: The last two series between these teams have been sweeps. The Cubs swept the series at Wrigley Field last year, but were swept at Houston in 2023.
• TRIPLING THEIR PLEASURE: Dansby Swanson’s triple Friday was the Cubs’ 16th of the year. They rank fourth in MLB in that category behind the Rockies (25), Tigers (18) and Diamondbacks (17).

Here are today’s particulars.

The Cubs lineup was not available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the Cubs lineup.

Astros lineup:

Colin Rea, RHP vs. Lance McCullers Jr., RHP

Colin Rea started this year well but his last six starts, yikes: 7.11 ERA, nine home runs allowed in 31⅔ innings. And that includes allowing NO runs in 5⅓ innings in one of those starts.

So, we hope for better tonight. Rea faced Houston last year, in Houston, May 19. And trust me, you do not want to look at that boxscore link. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Do good tonight, Colin.

Lance McCullers Jr.’s career has been injury after injury. He had four decent years for Houston from 2015-18, including an All-Star year in 2017. Then he had TJS after 2018 and missed the entire 2019 season. He threw well again in 2020 and 2021, but his 2022 season lasted only eight starts due to a flexor tendon injury. He came back and contributed in Houston’s postseason run that year, but after that had flexor tendon surgery and missed two full seasons.

He came back in May of this year and made seven starts before landing on the IL yet again, with a foot sprain suffered in the team’s weight room. No, I am not making that up.

He hasn’t pitched since June 10 and did not go on a rehab assignment, so he might be on a pitch limit tonight. This is McCullers’ 135th career start — but first-ever against the Cubs.

Many of you of “a certain age” will remember his dad, Lance McCullers Sr., who pitched for the Padres, Yankees, Tigers and Rangers from 1985-92.

Baseball Savant

Baseball Savant

Today’s game is on Fox-TV (regional — coverage map). A reminder that if you subscribe to MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings, you can watch this game via those services even if it’s not on the Fox affiliate in your market. Announcers: Kenny Albert and A.J. Pierzynski.

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.