Chicago Cubs vs. San Francisco Giants preview, Tuesday 5/6, 6:40 CT

The Cubs go for the series win.

Tuesday notes…

• MOVIN’ ON UP: The Cubs will try for a second time tonight to move to nine games above .500. They failed to do so on Sunday. They have not had nine more wins than losses since Sept. 13, 2023, when they were 78-69 following a second straight loss, by 7-3, at Colorado. They lost their next three games as well. A win, two losses and three wins put them at eight over, 82-74, but they lost their next four, won once and lost their final game to finish 83-79. Last year, the Cubs were 17-9 after winning at Boston, 7-1, on April 26. They lost the next two days, 17-0 and 5-4 on a walk-off, and never were more than seven games over the rest of the way.Today’s game is their 216th since they last were nine games above .500. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THAT POWER-HITTING CATCHER: Carson Kelly has hit eight home runs in 80 plate appearances — one of every 10.The most by any other player this season with no more than 80 PA is six, by Dylan Moore of the Mariners, in 78. In his nine previous big league seasons, Kelly had averaged a homer every 33.4 PA, hitting 54 in 1,802. The fewest PA by any previous Cub with at least eight homers in the team’s first 36 games of a season was 105, by Dave Kingman in 1980. He hit eight, as did Henry Rodriguez, in 106 PA in 2000, and Jody Davis, in 118, in 1987. Shane Andrews hit nine in 119 in 2000. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• MORE ON KELLY: Kelly’s eight home runs are the second-most in the first 20 games of any Cubs catcher’s season. The only one with more: Gabby Harnett in 1925 with nine. Kelly also extended his hitting streak to six games and on-base streak to eight games and is batting .391/.462/.696 (9-for-23) during the six-game hitting streak.
• LOOKS LIKE THE EIGHT SPOT AGREES WITH HIM: Dansby Swanson’s slash line in 27 games batting fifth: .173/.220/.336, for an OPS of .557. Swanson’s line in seven games batting eighth:.400/.500/1.040, for an OPS of 1.540. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Giants lineup:

Colin Rea, RHP vs. Justin Verlander, RHP

Colin Rea gets his second straight start against a big-name pitcher. Last time out he was excellent against the Pirates and Paul Skenes. Let’s see how he does against a future Hall of Famer.

You don’t really want to know what happened the last time he faced the Giants, though. If you click on that boxscore link, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

This year has been much better, hope the good ride continues.

Justin Verlander fun fact time!

When Verlander debuted with the Tigers in 2005, one of his teammates was former Cub Rondell White, who made his MLB debut in 1993.

When Verlander debuted with the Tigers in 2005, Pete Crow-Armstrong had just turned three years old.

Anyway.

Verlander is 42, wasn’t effective last year, though he has been somewhat better this year, and his last three starts have been pretty good (1.96 ERA), so maybe there’s something left in the tank.

He has made 533 career starts, which leads all active players and is 37th on the all-time list. Just three of those have been against the Cubs, including one last year, April 25 at Wrigley Field. He held the Cubs scoreless for 4⅓ innings, striking out seven in a game the Cubs eventually won. PCA hit his first MLB homer that day, though not off Verlander.

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 Giants site McCovey Chronicles. If you do go there to interact with Giants 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.