Chicago Cubs Lineup

Chicago Cubs Lineup (7/22/19): Schwarber Leads Off, Garcia 2B, Maldonado Catching, Mills on Mound

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanJuly 22, 2019

Kyle Schwarber gets to lead off for the second straight game since the Cubs are facing a lefty, then they’ll have Javy Báez at short, Kris Bryant at third, and Anthony Rizzo cleaning up. Robel Garcia bats fifth at second base, followed by Jason Heyward in right, Albert Almora Jr. in center, and Martín Maldonado catching.

They’ll be facing 24-year-old rookie Shaun Anderson, whose season has hit the skids of late. The righty has only struck out 41 batters in 64.2 innings pitched, which you can do if you’re avoiding hard contact and keeping the ball on the ground with great frequency. Anderson has given up at least five hits in all but two of his 12 starts and he’s only struck out more than five in two others.

The real issue for Anderson is that his sinker has been his only pitch with positive value and he throws it just 15% of the time. He’ll work about 93 mph with the fastball, then come back with a slider, change, and curve, none of which have done a good job of getting batters out.

Platoons really don’t matter, though Anderson has allowed a .372 wOBA to lefties at home while righties are at just .243 so far. That could be a big deal with the Cubs’ left-handed hitters possessing a fair bit of pop. There’s really not much else to say here, since the Cubs just need to take care of business against a young pitcher who shouldn’t put up much resistance.

Wait, how many times have we thought that this year alone?

Alec Mills is taking the bump for his second, and what figures to be his last, start in place of injured southpaw Cole Hamels. Mills looked really rough to open his start against the Reds, but settled in and kept the Cubs in the game for the offense to take over. That’s really all he needs to do in this one, though not hitting a bunch of batters and allowing several runs would be helpful.

First pitch is set for 8:45pm CT and can followed on WGN or 670 The Score.

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanJuly 22, 2019
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