Chicago Cubs Lineup (7/5/21): Davies Tries to Stop Bleeding, Bryant in Right, Marisnick in Center, Hoerner at Second

The Cubs return to Wrigley losers of nine straight — seven of which saw them score two or fewer runs — and now have seven home games to close out the season’s official first half. The Phillies have played similarly disappointing baseball thus far and sit three games below .500 heading into this four-game set.

Willson Contreras will lead things off for the Cubs tonight, as he tries to extend his hitting streak to six consecutive games. Kris Bryant bats second playing right, Anthony Rizzo hits third, followed by Javier Baez at short, Patrick Wisdom at third, and Joc Pederson in left. Jake Marisnick bats seventh playing center and Nico Hoerner is batting eighth playing second.

Zach Davies has very good since the start of May, save for that terrible outing against the Marlins, and he’s a rare Cubs starter who doesn’t give up homers. He’s only allowed six dingers on the season, two of which came in that Miami game, so staying away from big innings by using grounders to get outs has been his calling card.

Facing the Cubs on the mound for the Phils is 32-year-old lefty Matt Moore, who has struggled with both poor performance and health this season. He was removed from the rotation after three starts and was then placed on the IL due to back spasms. He returned to active duty and a starting role on June 25 and looked very good in five innings agains the Mets, however, so he can still be effective.

Moore is more or less your typical lefty: low-90’s fastball that he throws about 60% of the time, curve and change for another 30%, then a cutter that makes up the rest. Only the fastball has been decent this season, with the two main secondaries generating decidedly negative value.

That said, Moore’s performance in this one could look decidedly different from his early starts because that balky back may have been messing with him. His control was awful early on, leading to nine walks over his first 11 innings, but he’s only issued three free passes over the subsequent 12.1 frames. What’s more, he allowed four homers in that early sample and just one since.

First pitch is at 7:05pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score. If you’re tired of cable or satellite and still have a hankering to watch the Cubs, let us offer you a free preview of fuboTV, the only streaming service to offer Marquee.

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