Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Friday 6/13, 1:20 CT

The Cubs go for two in a row over the Bucs.

Friday notes…

• FRIDAY, NOT UNDER THE LIGHTS: This is the Cubs’ sixth Friday afternoon home game of the season. They won the first four before losing to the Reds on May 30. Since Aug. 8, 1988, when the lights were turned on at Wrigley Field, the Cubs are 253-204-1 in Friday day games, a winning percentage of .553. That is 38 points higher than their .515 in all other day games — and 18 points higher than their .535 in night games. In all games other than on Friday afternoon, their percentage is .524. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE PRESSLY FILES:

• THE LAST DECADE: Since 2015 the Cubs are 106-66 against the Pirates (53-37 at Wrigley Field).
• GET OUT OF YOUR SLUMP SOON, KYLE TUCKER: Tucker, last six games since June 7: .136/.269/.273 (3-for-22), one home run, 11 strikeouts.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Pirates lineup:

Cade Horton, RHP vs. Paul Skenes, LHP

Here we have a matchup of No. 1 draft picks. Cade Horton, the Cubs’ No. 1 pick (seventh overall) in 2022, vs. Paul Skenes, the Pirates’ No. 1 pick (first overall) in 2023.

Skenes, obviously, has made the bigger splash, though the Cubs beat him pretty good May 1 at PNC Park. They hit three home runs off him (Dansby Swanson, Kyle Tucker, Seiya Suzuki), the only time he’s ever given up three long balls in a game. Since then, in seven starts Skenes has a 1.12 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 48⅔ innings.

So, this will not be an easy task.

Cade Horton has been at least decent in all six of the games he’s appeared in (five starts). You can sense that he’s just on the edge of figuring everything out. He has a really good walk rate (5.3 percent, just seven of 132 batters faced).

He’s never faced the Pirates or anyone on their active roster — except for Matt Gorski, who faced him a couple times with Triple-A Indianapolis.

This should be fun to watch.

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. 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 Piratees 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 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.