Pre-Gamin’: Cubs at Giants (8:45 CT) – Lineups, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

CUBS LINEUP — The Cubs are starting a four-game, west-coast road trip tonight at Oracle Park. Justin Steele is on the mound for the Cubs, who are running out of time to turn this ship around before the trade deadline comes into focus. Here’s a look at the Cubs lineup for Game 1 in San Fran.

Chicago Cubs Lineup:

1. Nico Hoerner, 2B
2. Seiya Suzuki, RF
3. Cody Bellinger, DH
4. Chris Morel, 3B
5. Ian Happ, LF
6. Dansby Swanson, SS
7. Michael Busch, 1B
8. Tomas Nido, C
9. Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF

Tomas Nido is back behind the plate tonight, making his second start in a Cubs uniform. He’s batting eighth, just ahead of PCA. Michael Busch is starting way down at the bottom of the order, in part, I suspect, because of the Giants left-handed “opener” tonight. I’m not sure I agree with the tradeoff of avoiding one unwanted matchup early in the game at the (potential) expense of an extra Michael Busch at-bat later on (he’s like the only guy hitting right now), but that’s what Craig Counsell did here.

There is some logic to it, but I just don’t think it’s the way I would’ve gone. I’m sure Busch will homer in the second inning now that I’ve said this.

San Francisco Giants Lineup:

1. Austin Slater, RF
2. Heliot Ramos, CF
3. Wilmer Flores, 1B
4. Jorge Soler, DH
5. Matt Chapman, 3B
6. Thairo Estrada, 2B
7. Luis Matos, LF
8. Curt Casali, C
9. Nick Ahmed, SS

Pitching Matchup:

Chicago Cubs: Justin Steele, LHP

Justin Steele is on a pretty incredible run at the moment, with five straight excellent outings against the Brewers, Reds, Reds, Rays, and Giants: 31.2 IP, 4ER, 33Ks. And despite some blowup outings after coming off the IL (much of which was not even entirely his fault), Steele’s full season ERA is down to 3.16. He’s good. With that said, the Giants (118 wRC+, 6th highest in MLB) have been very good against left-handed pitching this season. So keep that in mind tonight.

San Francisco Giants: Erik Miller, LHP (Opener)

Erik Miller will start today, marking his third straight appearance against the Cubs. But he’s just an opener, so those other two appearances look like this:

@CHC: 1.1 IP, 2H, 3ER, 1BB, 0K (relief)
@CHC: 1.0 IP, 0H, 0ER, 1BB, 2K (opener)

He’ll be followed by the righty, Spencer Howard, who will attempt to be the bulk guy tonight. Howard, 27, also just faced the Cubs also in relief, going just 1.0 IP and getting relatively rocked (4H, 3R, 2ER, 1BB, 3K).

Broadcast Info:

Chicago Cubs (37-41) vs San Francisco Giants (36-42) at 8:45 pm CT – Marquee Sports Network, 670 The Score

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Chicago Cubs:

Mike Tauchman, OF

Yency Almonte, RP

Ben Brown, RP

Jordan Wicks, SP

Mark Leiter Jr., RP

Caleb Kilian, SP

Julian Merryweather, RP

Adbert Alzolay, RP

San Francisco Giants:

LaMonte Wade Jr., OF

Mike Yastrzemski, OF

Blake Snell, SP

Kyle Harrison, SP

Keaton Winn, SP

Robbie Ray, SP

Austin Warren, RP

Alex Cobb, SP

Tristan Beck, SP

Ethan Small, RP

Tom Murphy, C

Jung Hoo Lee, OF