Chicago Cubs Lineup: Happ Leads Off in CF, Schwarber Third in RF, Tseng on the Hill
One day after the Cubs’ first home game of the 2018 Cactus League season, they’re heading right back out on the road again. Today’s game against the San Francisco Giants will be in central Scottsdale, which is about 10 minutes straight up highway 101 from the Cubs Mesa facility.
Ian Happ is leading things off today while playing center field. He’s followed in the order by Tommy La Stella and Kyle Schwarber, who’ll line up in left field for today’s contest. Chris Gimenez will be catching today and batting cleanup, a spot in the order he’s not likely to see come regular season.
The bottom half of the order is very close to the order that Joe Maddon employed in the Cubs’ Cactus League opener in Maryvale on Thursday. Maddon is clearly trying to make sure he gets these guys, all of which will start the season in the minors, some quality at-bats this Spring before the regulars start to take up more of the playing time.
Efren Navarro is batting fifth and playing first base, followed by David Bote playing third, Chesney Young in as DH, Mark Zagunis in right and Mike Freeman playing shortstop.
Jen-Ho “Catfish” Tseng gets the start today on the hill for the Cubs (read more on him here). He was 6-1 with a 1.80 ERA for the Triple A Iowa Cubs last season. He has a three pitch repertoire consisting of a low-to-mid 90s fastball, a plus-curveball and changeup. He was Cubs’ minor league pitcher of the year in 2014 and again in 2017.
Tseng had mixed results in his MLB debut last season for the Cubs. He started one game against the Mets, giving up five runs off of five hits in three innings. In his second, and final, appearance last season, he came on in relief against the Cardinals to strike out two batters while surrendering no runs over three innings.
Good morning. #Cubs lineup vs Giants in Scottsdale pic.twitter.com/0pgThDN4xx
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) February 25, 2018
