Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/27/21): Thompson Making Second Start, Hermosillo Leading Off, Chirinos DH
Michael Hermosillo will lead off for the Chicago Cubs playing center field tonight, he’s followed by Frank Schwindel at first, Patrick Wisdom in left, Matt Duffy at third, and David Bote at second. Austin Romine will bat sixth and play catcher, Robinson Chirinos hits seventh as the DH, Jason Heyward bats next playing right, and Andrew Romine rounds things out playing short.
Keegan Thompson was limited in his first start last week against the Royals, suffering the loss despite giving up just two runs over four innings. While his overall performance can be considered a positive sign, his inability to put away members of the weak KC lineup was a little concerning. Thompson had just one strikeout with two walks and five hits allowed. The White Sox offer a very different challenge, but maybe he’ll be up to it.
If Dallas Keuchel was a comic book hero, his alter ego would be Supermeh. The 33-year-old lefty doesn’t miss bats and has been prone to giving up homers in bunches as he shuffles to a 4.71 ERA that is only slightly better than his 5.20 FIP. He has struck out more than four batters in a game only five times in 24 starts and has as many walks as strikeouts (11) over his last four outings.
The one thing he’s still got going for him is a very high groundball rate produced by a combination of his bowling-ball sinker, slow change, and oft-used cutter. That combo makes up around 88% of his offerings, though only the change has been a plus pitch for him this season. Interestingly enough, the four-seam he throws less than 2% of the time has also been pretty good.
Despite not pitching very well this season, Keuchel is 8-7 because the Sox can hang crooked numbers to support him. He’s also been much better at home, holding opponents 30-50 points lower across all three of the traditional slash numbers. He’s also a reverse-split pitcher who has limited righties to a .224 average and .300 wOBA on the South Side.
The Cubs should be able to hit him, it’s just a matter of making the hits hurt and not letting Keuchel off the hook with double-play grounders. First pitch of the crosstown tilt is set for 7:10pm CT on Marquee, NBC Sports Chicago, MLB Network (out-of-market), 670 The Score, and ESPN 1000.
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Here is tonight's #Cubs starting lineup on the South Side. pic.twitter.com/qQu7CVTf2c
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 27, 2021