The Cubs have not won a series yet this year, but they have a chance to tonight. Here’s the lineup for the rubber match at Wrigley Field.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Ben Zobrist, RF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Jason Heyward, CF
- Daniel Descalso, 2B
- Victor Caratini, C
- Jose Quintana, P
Joe Musgrove has had pretty standard lefty/righty splits for his career, so a night off for a struggling Albert Almora makes some sense. The same goes for Willson Contreras, who isn’t struggling at all (he’s actually killing the ball), but needs rest anyway.
And when you can plug in a hot-hitting Jason Heyward into center field and a switch-hitting catcher like Caratini behind the plate … all the better. It’s also worth noting that in 8 at-bats against Musgrove, Heyward has three hits and a walk. Willson Contreras did have some success against him, too, but again: you’re gonna want to rest him as much as possible and Caratini does have the lefty advantage. With an early game against the Angels tomorrow, this was an obvious call.
Other than that, Daniel Descalso is getting another start tonight (he’s been racking them up lately, eh?), and it’s well-deserved. Through 10-games this season (33 PAs), Descalso has hit .300/.364/.467 (117 wRC+) and has made so much hard contact (44.0%). Love to see that. If he can really take that second base position and run with it, the Cubs offense would look that much better. The extra rest he can give Zobrist, who may be needed in the outfield more now than ever anyway, can be huge.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time, which has changed from 7:05 CT to 6:35 CT. If you’re heading to the game, gates will still open at 5:05 CT.