Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/6/25): Hoerner Leads Off, Turner Batting Second, Horton Starting Finale

I don’t know if y’all were aware of this esoteric bit of advanced baseball data, but it’s hard to win games when you only score one or two runs. That’s why the Cubs are 0-2 so far in this series. In their eight wins since the break, the Cubs have averaged 5.375 runs; in their nine losses, they’ve averaged just three tallies. Keep in mind that they’ve got a 1-0 win and a 5-12 loss in there as well. The point is that the offense hasn’t been doing nearly enough on a consistent basis.

The only person who believes in the Cubs’ bats right now is Reds manager Terry Francona, who used three relievers over the final two innings on Tuesday. Collecting only four hits with two walks doesn’t afford much opportunity for aggressive baserunning, but the Cubs did nothing — and have done little for quite a while now — to manufacture runs. Kyle Tucker did lay down his first-ever sac bunt the other day, so that’s something.

I’d say it falls to rookie Cade Horton to play stopper, but we’ve seen more than a few times now that even an outstanding performance from the starter doesn’t matter. Whether it’s the bullpen failing to limit damage or the offense scoring just one run, there’s no margin for error. Speaking of which, was Andrew Kittredge tipping his pitches last night?

The former Oriole came on to replace Shōta Imanaga with one out in the top of the 7th and retired only one of the six batters he faced. We’re not talking about complicated guesswork since he’s basically just a sinker/slider guy, but the Reds seemed to be sitting slider with tremendous conviction. It didn’t help that Kittredge hung several of them. Three of their four hits, plus a sac fly, came against the slider last night.

Again, it hardly mattered with just one run of support for the staff. While I know everything could turn around in a hurry, this feels like a team that decided to start playing not to lose after the break. It’s like they’ve adopted the same mentality the front office took in dialing down risk, even though I know that’s not how the players are actually viewing it. I see a team that isn’t playing loose, perhaps because too many players are stuck in their own heads.

Something needs to happen to bust them out of this little skid. Perhaps the spark will come from Justin Turner, who’s batting second because why the hell not. Nico Hoerner leads off at second base, Turner is at first, Seiya Suzuki is the DH, and Carson Kelly is the catcher. Pete Crow-Armstrong patrols center, Willi Castro gets some run in right, Ian Happ is in left, and Dansby Swanson is at short. Matt Shaw is back at third after providing his team’s only offense last night.

Getting revved up won’t be easy with All-Star lefty Andrew Abbott on the mound. He has dominated the Cubs in two previous starts this season, facing them in back-to-back games a little over two months ago. Abbott allowed one run on seven hits, striking out 10 with three walks over 12.2 innings. He picked up wins in both contests and is at 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA on the season.

The Jesse Plemons lookalike doesn’t overpower hitters with a low-90s fastball, but he pairs it well with a mid-80s changeup that tunnels well with lots of ride. That offspeed is only used against right-handed hitters, with his curve and sweeper being used more often against lefties. The latter of those is his only pitch with more throws against lefties, which is saying something when you consider he’s faced three times as many righties.

So the righty batters will see a steady diet of fastballs, changeups, and curves; lefties will get fastballs and sweepers with a few curves for good measure. That ability to mix and match has kept Abbott’s splits very similar all season, with very little difference across any of the various metrics. In short, this is a really difficult matchup that might require the Cubs catching a break or three.

First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.

Last one of the homestand.

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— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 6, 2025