Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/27/25): Hoerner Leads Off, Turner 1B, Castro LF, Rea Starting

The Cubs followed up their sweep in Anaheim by stumbling to a 5-2 loss in which they managed only two runs on eight hits. That’s par for the course here in August, as they’ve scored three or fewer runs in 14 of their 24 games. They’ve won only three of those low-scoring contests, but can you guess what they’ve done in the 10 games with four or more runs scored? That’s your cue to click the link.

If you guessed 10-0, you win a super-secret prize that will be revealed at the end of this post.

I can’t believe I’m typing this, but Colin Rea gives the Cubs a great shot to get back in the win column. He’s won his last two decisions and the Cubs have prevailed in three of his last four starts, with the only blemish coming in a 3-2 loss to the Pirates a little less than two weeks ago. Rea has allowed two or fewer runs in seven of his last nine starts, but even holding the Giants to two runs might not be good enough.

Craig Counsell is shifting things around a little bit tonight, and I’m starting to feel like he’s mocking me at this point. Nico Hoerner leads off at second, Kyle Tucker is in right, and Seiya Suzuki is the DH. Justin Turner cleans up at first, Carson Kelly does the catching, and Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center. Dansby Swanson is at short, Matt Shaw slides all the way up to the eight-hole at third base, and Willi Castro spells Ian Happ in left.

It’s hard to make a joke about Owen Caissie being on the bench based on the matchup, but we’ll check for his obituary if he’s out tomorrow.

They’re facing lefty Carson Whisenhunt, a 24-year-old rookie lefty who is making his fifth career MLB start. The East Carolina product posted monster strikeout numbers over his first three pro seasons, racking up 238 punchies in 176 innings. That included 135 Ks in 104.2 innings at Triple-A last year, though he had only 92 strikeouts in 103 innings this season.

Whisenhunt has struck out 13 batters over 18 MLB innings and hasn’t recorded more than 16 outs in a game yet, so he shouldn’t go deep tonight. His nine walks and 17 hits allowed tell us he will allow plenty of traffic, plus he’s served up five homers. That’s a little skewed by allowing three dingers to the Nats, and his 46.4% grounder rate says he should limit the longball over time.

We’re looking at a pretty typical lefty with a 92-93 mph sinker that he likes to throw up in the zone with lots of ride for about half of his pitches. His 81 mph changeup makes up nearly 40% of his repertoire and he’ll throw it to lefties, but it ends up hanging around the bottom of the zone quite frequently. Then there’s the 83 mph slider that has good vertical movement, giving it potential to be a strong offering if he can really dial it in.

He’s given up a ton of hard contact and hasn’t fooled right-handed hitters in the least, so maybe the Cubs can jump on him. I’m running short on time here and don’t have much more information on the young southpaw, so that’s it for this one. First pitch is once again at 8:45pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.

Oh, I almost forgot: Here’s a virtual pat on the back for those who got the trivia question right.