It only took about 24 hours for the honeymoon to end, and now it’s up to Shōta Imanaga to save the season. Since no team has ever made the playoffs after starting out 1-4, this is perhaps the most critical game the Cubs will play. Or maybe I just made all that up and this one is really only consequential in the fact that banking early losses isn’t very helpful.
A day after putting up 10 runs in the opener, the Cubs looked listless in mustering just one run on three hits against Merrill Kelly. Diamondbacks relievers followed with 3.2 nearly perfect innings. The only blemish was a dropped catch by former Cubs great Shelby Miller, who struck out the side in the 8th before getting three Cubs to fly out in the final frame. Even though the Cubs struck out only twice more across the other eight innings, they couldn’t string anything together.
It didn’t help that Jameson Taillon looked quite rough over 4.1 laborious innings of work that required 80 pitches. He gave up nine total hits, with seemingly every one of his different offerings being victimized to some extent. His four-seam allowed a double and two singles, the sweeper and cutter were each tagged for a double and a homer, the change gave up a double, and the curve was hit for a single. He only got one strikeout, but hey, there were no walks.
Imanaga has to come out dealing in this one because the bats have been pretty flat in three of four games so far and the Cubs need a spark. He looked great in Tokyo save for the control issues, so he’ll need to tighten that up this evening. Getting a strong performance and putting the Cubs in a position to close this series at .500 is key. Given their difficult early schedule, it seems like just getting to May at even or slightly better is the goal.
Craig Counsell is shaking things up on the infield the bottom of the order, but most of the lineup remains the same from the first two games. Ian Happ leads off in left, Kyle Tucker is in right, Seiya Suzuki is the DH, and Michael Busch is at first. Dansby Swanson handles short and Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center. Miguel Amaya is back after what felt like a predetermined choice to start Carson Kelly on Friday. Gage Workman gets his first start at third while Jon Berti spells Nico Hoerner at second.
They’re facing Brandon Pfaadt, who had an erratic spring following a pair of somewhat odd seasons with the Snakes. His career ERA is north of 5.00 and he’s given up 46 homers in 277.2 innings, but he’s struck out 279 batters to just 68 walks. His 94 mph fastball plays up due to his 74th percentile extension, but his sweeper tends to hang frequently and his curve sprays all over the place. The changeup was decent last year, but he only throws it 11% of the time.
As you can probably guess, that repertoire leaves him susceptible to huge platoon splits. Lefties slashed .294/.339/.472 with a .348 wOBA against him last year, though members of this Cubs team have combined for a mere .170/.200/.264 line in 53 total at-bats. That appears ripe for correction, and I’d imagine they come out aggressive against a guy who should throw plenty of hittable strikes. Of course, that should have been the case against Kelly as well.
First pitch is at 7:10pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
Sho Time in the desert.
Watch the game live on the Marquee Sports Network App. pic.twitter.com/IWuXV7442e
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 29, 2025
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The post Chicago Cubs Lineup (3/29/25): Workman at 3B, Berti at 2B, Imanaga Starting appeared first on .