Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Thursday 5/28, 5:40 CT

Thursday notes… WINNING FACTS: By winning last night, the Cubs avoided falling into fifth place in the division. The have been fifth after 13 days on which they played this season, but not since they were 11-9 on April 19. They have been fourth after four games, third after seven, second after 11 an

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Thursday notes…

WINNING FACTS: By winning last night, the Cubs avoided falling into fifth place in the division. The have been fifth after 13 days on which they played this season, but not since they were 11-9 on April 19. They have been fourth after four games, third after seven, second after 11 and first after 19. The Brewers have been first on 20 days; the Reds, on 19; the Pirates, eight; and the Cardinals, three. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

HITTING USUALLY MEANS WINNING: The Cubs’ 14 hits last night tied for their fifth most this season. They had 18 vs. the Phillies on April 23, 16 vs. the Rays on April 7, 15 vs. the Phillies on April 14 and 15, and 14 vs. the Mets on April 17 and the White Sox on May 15. All but the 18-hit game and 14 vs. the Sox were on the road. The Cubs won all those games. They are 16-1 this season when they have produced double-digit hits. The only loss was by 13-7 at Philadelphia on April 13, the day before the Cubs began their first 10-game winning streak. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
WEBB SPINNING: Jacob Webb, month of May: 11 games, 13 innings, 0.69 ERA, 0.769 WHIP, no home runs allowed, two walks, 18 strikeouts.
TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: Kyle Hendricks throws a five-hit complete game and the Cubs defeat the Phillies 5-1 at Wrigley Field. The team improves to 33-14 and leads the NL Central by 5.5 games. It happened 10 years ago today, Saturday, May 28, 2016.

Cubs lineup:

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

Colin Rea, RHP vs. Paul Skenes, RHP

After a pretty good start to his 2026, Colin Rea has been hit pretty hard in his last two starts, though the most recent one (last Saturday vs. the Astros) was decent — seven innings, four hits, three runs.

Rea has not faced the Pirates this year. Last year in three starts against them

he had a 2.65 ERA and 0.941 WHIP and only one home run allowed in 17 innings.

Two current Pirates who hit him well are Nick Gonzales (5-for-12, a home run) and Bryan Reynolds (8-for-19, two doubles, two home runs).

It’s weird to see “3.00” as Paul Skenes’ ERA as he’s been below 2.00 most of his MLB career. He got pounded for five runs in less than an inning in his first 2026 start, largely due to a misplay by Oneil Cruz, then over the next eight: 1.09 ERA, 0.527 WHIP, 55 strikeouts and only five walks in 49.1 innings.

But then he got hit hard his last two times out: 15 hits and nine earned runs in 10 total innings, and his K rate dropped.

So maybe the Cubs are facing him at a good time for them.

Cubs teams have hit Skenes reasonably well. Their .737 OPS in seven games they’ve faced him is the best for any team that’s faced him more than three times. Same for the 2.94 ERA he has against the Cubs — worst for any team that’s faced him more than three times.

Thus… don’t assume this is a loss. The Cubs have done okay against Skenes in the past, and he’s coming off two (for him) bad starts. Fingers crossed.

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Here is the weather forecast for the area around PNC Park.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. It’s also streaming on Peacock (outside the Pirates and Cubs market territories, Pirates broadcast).

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Pirates 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 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll 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).

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.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) 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.

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

Discuss amongst yourselves.