Chicago Cubs Lineup: La Stella Leads Off, Javy at Short, Quintana Looks to Get on Track

Joe Maddon is shaking things up again, leading off with Tommy La Stella and shifting things around at the bottom of the order. Ben Zobrist bats second in right, Javy Baez is at short, and Anthony Rizzo is cleaning up. Ian Happ plays center, Kyle Schwarber is in left, Willson Contreras is catching, and David Bote is at third.

Jose Quintana (10-9, 4.46 ERA) has been anything but consistent this season. In fact, consistent inconsistency may be the best way to describe his performance up to this point. After back-to-back rough outings in which he pitched a total of 11.1 innings and gave up 10 earned runs, including four home runs, he’s hoping to get back on track in today’s series finale against the Pirates.

If there’s a bit of solace to be taken, it’s that Quintana has pitched well against the Pirates in his time as a Cub. While it’s an admittedly small sample size — two games — he’s allowed just three runs over 12 innings, striking out 15 batters. Even with a solid performance today, he’ll need a lot more support than what the offense has offered so far in the series.

First pitch is 12:35pm CT and can be seen on ABC-7 or heard on 670 The Score.

Here is today's #Cubs starting lineup in Pittsburgh.

Game preview: https://t.co/i6Hnv9QO0C #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/R6isjzkBHN

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 19, 2018