If the weather holds up, the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates will square off for Game 2 at Wrigley Field tonight. Here’s the Cubs lineup for that contest.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Daniel Descalso, 2B
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Willson Contreras, C
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Yu Darvish, P
Whenever Albert Almora Jr. is in the lineup, I like to take special note of his spot in the batting order, because he’s one of the few guys who has moved around A LOT whenever he’s in there.
Take a look:
Game 1: Leadoff
Game 2: 9th
Game 3: 8th
Game 4: Leadoff
Game 5: Did not start
Game 6: Leadoff
Game 7: Did not start
Game 8: 6th
Game 9: Did not start
Game 10: Did not start
So far this season, he’s leadoff three times, and has then hit sixth, eighth, and ninth. Tonight, against the righty Jordan Lyles, Almora is batting eighth, but it’s a good time for him to get in there.
Although Lyles does carry traditional splits (i.e. tougher on righties than lefties), he has allowed righties to hit him just fine over the years: .274/.326/.440. If Almora is going to improve against right-handed pitchers, this is the type of righty-on-righty matchup that’ll put him in the best position to succeed. And with his quality glove in center field, a fully developed bat could be huge for the Cubs over the next half-decade.
But with Almora at the bottom of the order and Ben Zobrist getting the day off, someone had to lead off and play second base and it’s once again Daniel Descalso.
Descalso has been tearing the cover off the ball here in the early-going (.346/.414/.538), has walked plenty (10.3%) and has not really struck out (13.8%). His left-handed bat should be in a good position to succeed tonight with Lyles on the mound, so let’s hope he can keep up this pace.
As usual, we’ll have a full Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time (7:05 CT).