Chicago Cubs Lineup (5/13/26): Mo Baller DH, Kelly Catching, Imanaga Starting
After being held scoreless in each of their two previous losses, the Cubs earned a moral victory by scratching out two runs on Tuesday night. Of course, they only had one hit in the process. The fact that Alex Bregman’s home run came on their seventh-hardest-hit ball of the evening should offer a little optimism that things could turn around for the third baseman, but that doesn’t make their stagnant offense any less frustrating.
Tonight is the Cubs’ best chance to get something going in the series, as they’ve got Shota Imanaga on the mound. The lefty has held opponents to one or zero earned runs in six of his eight starts, and he’s gotten more whiffs than ever since getting more comfortable with the idea that a walk isn’t the worst outcome. This Braves lineup carries a .941 OPS in 40 at-bats against him, so he’s got a tough task tonight.
Unless he makes it seven starts with no more than one run allowed, the offense is going to have to be better than it has been in the last three games. Nico Hoerner leads off at second, Moisés Ballesteros is back at DH, Alex Bregman is at third, and Ian Happ cleans up in left. Seiya Suzuki plays right, Michael Busch is at first, and Carson Kelly is catching. Miguel Amaya is dealing with a stiff back, which is why he’s not been playing lately. Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center and Dansby Swanson is at short.
They’re up against rookie righty JR Ritchie, who is making the fourth start of his career after opening the season with five starts at Triple-A. The 35th overall pick out of Bainbridge High School, which is across Elliott Bay from Seattle, Ritchie moved quickly through the system. After missing most of the 2023 and ’24 seasons due to UCL reconstruction, he shot through the minors last year to finish with 59.2 innings over 11 Triple-A starts.
There’s nothing particularly eye-popping about his minor league numbers or his stuff, but he’s ranked as the Braves’ No. 2 overall prospect. That’s less a matter of any outliers and more about being able to do everything pretty well. MLB Pipeline gives him 50 or 55 grades on all of his pitches, plus his control and overall performance, though he’s yet to show much of that in the bigs.
Ritchie has struck out only 13 batters in 17.1 innings, which would be acceptable if he hadn’t walked 12 more. What’s more, four of the 14 hits he’s allowed have left the yard. On the bright side for him he’s held right-handed batters to a slash line of .059/.200/.059 with just one hit surrendered to 20 batters. Feels like that is going to have to change before long.
Despite throwing from a low three-quarter slot, Ritchie likes to work more north-south. He locates the 94 mph fastball up and out of the zone frequently, then throws his sweepy 82-83 curve down and to the glove side. His 88 mph changeup typically lands middle-down, and his 94 mph sinker can be dotted at either the top or bottom of the zone. He’ll mix in a 90 mph cutter and an 85 mph slider as well, giving him quite a bit of variety.
Ritchie has struggled with both control and command, leading to either walks or very hittable pitches when he falls behind. He hasn’t been able to get big league hitters to bite when he misses, nor is he generating nearly as many grounders as he did in the minors. Everything about this screams that the Cubs should be able to put up a few early runs, but we’ve all seen that story enough to be cautious with that prediction.
First pitch is at 7:15pm CT on Marquee and The Score.
