Cubs (Rea) vs Pirates (Skenes): 5/28/26, 5:40pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

Well, the losing streak is over! Now time to build a winning streak? Paul Skenes has looked somewhat mortal lately, it's not impossible to get to him.

	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	TOT
Trent Thornton	14	0	21	0	0	35
Ryan Rolison	16	0	0	32	0	48
Phil Maton	0	13	0	0	22	35
Jacob Webb	0	0	23	0	17	40
Hoby Milner	0	0	0	20	0	20
Ethan Roberts	0	16	0	0	15	31
Daniel Palencia	0	0	0	14	0	14
Caleb Thielbar	0	13	0	0	17	30

[Jason Ross]

Skenes is still really, really good but there are some interesting things in there. His fastball velo is down again, his arm slot is a bit higher, and his K% has dipped. He's also gotten less whiff. 

Like, he's still one of the absolute best pitchers in baseball, but he's more "one of the best handful or so" instead of like "one of the two best". 

[mk49]

I'm pretty sure the Cubs were the best team against Skenes last year.  

OK, I just checked the stats.  The Cubs' OPS against him was .982 last year.  He gave up only 11 HR's whole year, and the Cubs hit 4 of them.

Yes, it's a very small sample size, 3 games, and yes, he's one of the best, but we have a chance to beat him.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Skenes has a 6.5 ERA in the day and .5 in the night. He has a .3 WHIP in the night. 

 

I think we can scratch a couple off him but I'm not exactly confident in Rea. 

[BKHoo]

WTF is going on in this organization?! Wiggins is now messed up even more and Steele might not pitch the year?  SMDH. 

[mk49]

5 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

WTF is going on in this organization?! Wiggins is now messed up even more and Steele might not pitch the year?  SMDH. 

What happened to them?

[Derwood]

This should be a day game, just sayin

[gflore34]

14 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

WTF is going on in this organization?! Wiggins is now messed up even more and Steele might not pitch the year?  SMDH. 

It's probably best to remove Wiggins, Horton and Steele from the equation and thought process altogether.  Focus on who's actually healthy and playing, if, by some miracle, either of them make it back, great.  Still not worth the effort to count on guys who can't stay available.

[CubUgly]

26 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

It's probably best to remove Wiggins, Horton and Steele from the equation and thought process altogether.  Focus on who's actually healthy and playing, if, by some miracle, either of them make it back, great.  Still not worth the effort to count on guys who can't stay available.

That's 100% how we need to look at this - and if either or both of Steele or Wiggins get in before the season is out - it's gravy. 

[Post Count Padder]

A 10-game losing streak into maybe beating up the best pitcher in baseball is so Cobs.

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, BKHoo said:

WTF is going on in this organization?! Wiggins is now messed up even more and Steele might not pitch the year?  SMDH. 

What happened with Wiggins? 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

3 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

What happened with Wiggins? 

there's nothing new. He's throwing bullpens in arizona and that's all we know.

[mk49]

9 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

there's nothing new. He's throwing bullpens in arizona and that's all we know.

Oh, OK.  Thanks.  I thought something might have happened.  After his injury, I didn't expect much out of Wiggins this year, anyway.  I want Steele to pitch well at the end of the season + the playoffs.  

Edited 18 hours ago by mk49

[CUBDOM4life]

[mk49]

Hopefully, this doesn't mean Kelly will be the catcher tomorrow.  I think he will be, though.  The problem we have is that Shota and Ben pitch much better with Amaya, and they pitch back to back.  Rea is probably better with Kelly.

[squally1313]

Colin Rea with the most innings for the cubs since the beginning of last year, as we all predicted/wanted. 

[chibears55]

5 Ks first 6 batter for Skenes so far 🙄

[Derwood]

Rea over 30 pitches through 2. Gonna be a gruesome bullpen game

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

c'mon pete, you can't have the ball beating you by 20 feet against skenes. you're not javy

[mk49]

Man, if Pete was safe or stayed at 1B.

[Rcal10]

10 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Rea over 30 pitches through 2. Gonna be a gruesome bullpen game

Skenes is at 50 thru 3

[BKHoo]

Pete made a bad decision there. 

[Rcal10]

1 minute ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

c'mon pete, you can't have the ball beating you by 20 feet against skenes. you're not javy

It was pretty close. And by going that gave Swanson a chance to score. I don’t fault him for that. 

[Papa Cub]

Just now, Rcal10 said:

Skenes is at 50 thru 3

Yep - they keep his pitch count higher end get him out by 5.1 or 6 that’s a win in my book 

[Rcal10]

Just now, Papa Cub said:

Yep - they keep his pitch count higher end get him out by 5.1 or 6 that’s a win in my book 

As long as Rea can match him. For today, I would love for the pens to decide this game.