Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/30/19): Happ Leads Off in CF, Bote at 3B, Quintana Pitching
Well this is different. Ian Happ is leading off in center as Jason Heyward gets a much needed break from that role. Nicholas Castellanos is in right, Victor Caratini slides up to the third spot at first base, and Javy Báez cleans up at short.
Kyle Schwarber is in left, Addison Russell is at second, Jonathan Lucroy is catching, and David Bote gets some run at third base. Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant are notably absent, but the latter is a normal rest day.
They’ll be trying to Chase Anderson — get it? — who’s actually been really good recently outside of a 10-run implosion in Washington two starts ago. He’s been in the rotation since late April and really caught his stride since late June, including the time he limited the Cubs to two runs over five innings at Wrigley just over a month ago.
The 31-year-old righty has actually seen a jump in his fastball velocity this season, dialing it up to the mid-90’s and sitting around 93-94 mph. But his cutter has been key to the recent surge and he’s throwing it more than ever while going to the sinker less frequently. Anderson is also using his changeup more and his curveball less.
The effectiveness of the changeup has resulted in serious reverse split, with lefties hitting .175 with a .569 OPS and righties hitting .296 with a .914 OPS. That could mean very good things for Bryant (.975 OPS, 3 HR) and Castellanos, who has never faced Anderson but has been raking like crazy. Báez, however, has just a .170 OPS and may be primed to break out.
José Quintana will be on the mound for the home team coming off of a less-than-stellar outing against the Nats. That was his first rough start in nearly a month, so maybe he’s ready to bounce back and go on another run. When he faced the Brewers at the start of August, he held them to two runs and had five strikeouts with no walks.
First pitch is set for 1:20pm CT on WGN, MLB Network (out-of-market), and 670 The Score.
Here is today's #Cubs starting lineup.
Game preview: https://t.co/Vi7aeA0teE pic.twitter.com/aPog2RAycA
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 30, 2019
