Chicago Cubs Lineup (9/13/23): Wisdom at 3B, Crow-Armstrong in CF, Taillon Starting

The Cubs have split the first two games so far, not exactly an ideal situation to be in against the worst team in the league. That’s what happens when you don’t put up more than five runs in Denver. They really need to get the bats going in this one so they can get out of town with a stress-free win.

Jameson Taillon may not be the starter you’d choose to pace such an effort, but he’s proven he can be really good when he’s right. The key is getting into a groove early, as he has put him team in a few early holes this year. Even then, he’s had several starts in which he eventually settled in nicely after looking really wobbly out of the gate.

Christopher Morel has apparently become the leadoff man against lefties, so he’s back in that spot as the DH this afternoon. Nico Hoerner is at second, Cody Bellinger is at first, Dansby Swanson is at short, and Seiya Suzuki is in right. After his big game with another homer last night, Suzuki has a 198 wRC+ with eight dingers since getting back into the everyday lineup.

Ian Happ is in left, Patrick Wisdom gets his first start at third base since July 28, Miguel Amaya is the catcher, and Pete Crow-Armstrong gets his second straight start in center. Just in case anyone out there still believes Alexander Canario’s playing time was a matter of David Ross actually believing that stuff about only playing the guys who got them here, PCA’s usage should tell you otherwise.

They’re up against 32-year-old lefty Ty Blach, who is making his 10th start out of 17 total appearances this season for the Rockies. He’s a prototypical AAAA guy who has bounced since 2016 as teams need a fresh arm who can either start or work in long relief. He doesn’t miss bats and has been crushed by righties, which should bode well for the Cubs.

Then again, they’ve gotten very disappointing results against a pair of pitchers about whom the exact same things were said. There’s zero excuse to leave Denver without a series win, so the Cubs really need to jump on Blach and bury their opponents early.

First pitch is at 2:10pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.