The Cubs get a chance to make some noise in the standings Monday afternoon, and they’re doing it with a lineup wrinkle at Wrigley Field.
Chicago opens a series against St. Louis while the Milwaukee Brewers are in Los Angeles to face the Dodgers, giving the Cubs another shot to gain ground. The Cardinals have been uneven this season, but this is the kind of matchup that can get messy fast no matter what the records say.
Craig Counsell is rolling out a slightly unexpected lineup against a left-hander. Rather than making room for Pedro Ramírez, he’s going with both Ian Happ and Tyrone Taylor, a look the Cubs have mostly avoided since the trade deadline because of Happ’s struggles.
Happ has at least one hit in four of his last five games, though, so there’s been some recent life there. Taylor will handle right field, while Seiya Suzuki shifts to DH.
Suzuki has been one of the hotter bats in the lineup lately, hitting .305 with 12 RBIs and 18 hits in his last 15 games.
On the mound, Clay Holmes gets the ball after a rocky Cubs debut. He was tagged for four earned runs on six hits and only lasted four innings in that outing, and Chicago is clearly looking for a sharper version this time around. Holmes had already missed two full months of MLB action, so the adjustment period was always going to be part of the story.
Now he gets his first look at Wrigley Field in a Cubs uniform, and the matchup brings some interesting pressure points. The Cardinals rank sixth-best in hard contact, which could test Holmes if the ball is getting squared up. But that same profile also feeds into one of his best traits: getting ground balls.
Chicago also has reason to believe it can do damage against Matthew Liberatore. The Cubs have scored three earned runs on him in each of his last two starts against them, and while he’s capable of mixing pitches effectively, they’ve shown they’re willing to wait for the heater. Liberatore is coming off a rough outing against the Colorado Rockies, when he allowed nine hits and five earned runs before being pulled.
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Wrigleys charm has always come with a price, and Rooneys gripe touched on the same old themes Cardinals fans know well: the wind, the ivy-covered walls and the ballparks age, all of which give it historic character and make it a tricky place to broadcast and play. For St. Louis listeners, it was another reminder that even after all these years, Wrigley can still provide plenty of reasons to mutter from the Cardinals side. [Read more 🡒]
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For a club that has spent plenty of time worrying about the running game, that kind of presence can make life easier for catcher Ivan Herrera and anyone else working behind the plate. Opponents may be less inclined to test McGreevy when he is on the mound, and for the Cardinals, even that small edge can add up over time as they look for cleaner innings and fewer extra mistakes to manage. [Read more 🡒]