{"id":284630,"date":"2026-09-12T18:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T18:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/284630\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T18:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T18:20:15","slug":"chicago-cubs-vs-pittsburgh-pirates-preview-saturday-9-12-120-ct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/284630\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Saturday 9\/12, 1:20 CT"},"content":{"rendered":"

BASEBALL IN SUNSHINE: Yesterday\u2019s win evened the Cubs\u2019 record in day games this year at 32-32, including 22-16 at home. They are 13-17 this year in the second of back-to-back day games. They finished last year 24-13. They are 12-10 in the second of back-to-back day games at home. A year ago, they were 22-12. (Courtesy BCB\u2019s JohnW53)SATURDAY IN THE PARK: On Saturdays this season, the Cubs are 13-11 overall and 7-5 at home. They wound up 20-7 and 9-5 a year ago. (Courtesy BCB\u2019s JohnW53)APPROACHING 800: With their 12 runs yesterday, the Cubs\u2019 total for the season stands at 792. They have scored an 800th run in only 12 seasons since 1901, most recently 2023, with 819, their eighth most in a season. This century, they also scored 808 in 2016, 814 in 2019, 822 in 2017 and 855 in 2008. Those 855 are the Cubs\u2019 third most ever, behind 998 in 1930 and 982 in 1929. At their current average of 5.35 per game, the Cubs will finish this season with 867. (Courtesy BCB\u2019s JohnW53)TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: The Cubs trailed the Dodgers 7-0 going to the fifth, then overcame that and led them 8-7 in the ninth before L.A. scored an unearned run in that inning to tie the game. Former Dodger Cesar Izturis singled in the winning run in the 11th and the Cubs won 9-8<\/a>. It happened 20 years ago today, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2006.<\/p>\n

Clay Holmes, RHP vs. Paul Skenes, RHP<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Clay Holmes was going along great in his first five starts for the Cubs, then had a stinker last Sunday against the Marlins.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019re going to try to ignore that one and focus on the rest of his 2026 season, which has been excellent.<\/p>\n

Holmes, who began his career with the Pirates, has never faced them as a starting pitcher. The only Pirates player who\u2019s seen him for more than a handful of at-bats is Brandon Lowe (2-for-8).<\/p>\n

You have probably read about Paul Skenes\u2019 somewhat down year \u2014 his ERA is well over 3, his velocity is down a few ticks, etc. (You can see that in the chart below.)<\/p>\n

The last time he faced the Cubs was July 25 at PNC Park<\/a>, and they hit him pretty well even though he struck out 10 Cubs hitters \u2014 six hits and five runs in 5.1 innings.<\/p>\n

Since that game, Skenes has a 4.46 ERA and 1.456 WHIP in seven starts covering 34.1 innings. The Cubs have hit him well in the past \u2014 he has a 3.45 career ERA in nine starts against the Cubs, which is his highest against any team he\u2019s faced more than four times.<\/p>\n

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Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.<\/a><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s game is on Marquee Sports Network.<\/p>\n

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.<\/a><\/p>\n

Baseball-reference.com game preview<\/a><\/p>\n

Please visit our SB Nation Pirates site Bucs Dugout<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll 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).<\/p>\n

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled \u201cCubs vs. (Team) (Day of week\/date) game threads.\u201d It will contain every post related to that particular game.<\/p>\n

The Live! (formerly \u201cFirst Pitch\u201d) 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.<\/p>\n

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link<\/a>. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.<\/p>\n

Discuss amongst yourselves.<\/p>\n

Fewer adsCreate community posts<\/a>Comment on articles, community postsRec comments, community postsNew, improved notifications system!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BASEBALL IN SUNSHINE: Yesterday\u2019s win evened the Cubs\u2019 record in day games this year at 32-32, including 22-16…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74015,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-284630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-chicago-cubs-game-information","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}