Chicago Cubs Lineup (5/27/25): PCA Bats Cleanup, McGuire Catching, Horton Starting
You know school is out, or at least nearing its end, when the start times move back 25 minutes. Though pushing them up to 6:40pm CT early and late in the season is a relatively new development, following Memorial Day as the unofficial start to summer gives it a little weight. Given the opponent, it’s also fitting that tonight’s giveaway celebrates Hefty’s 60th birthday.
Cade Horton is on the mound trying to take out the trash in his third start and fourth total MLB appearance, but he’ll have to be better than we’ve seen so far. Even though he allowed only one earned run to the Marlins last week, he gave up six hits and walked three over 5.1 innings. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that he went over 80 pitches for the first time all season, signaling that the kid gloves may be coming off.
Horton has only five strikeouts in two starts after punching out that many in his debut against the Mets a little over two weeks ago. Those numbers have to improve for him to be an impact starter, and there could be no better opponent than the Rockies. Only the Angels (27.1%) strike out more than the 26.9% by tonight’s visitors, who are also among the six lowest teams in walk rate.
This outing could really boost Horton’s confidence, especially if the offense decides to show up early to give him a big lead. Ian Happ will try to set the pace in left, Kyle Tucker is in right, and NL Player of the Week Seiya Suzuki is the DH. Pete Crow-Armstrong bats cleanup, Dansby Swanson is at short, and Michael Busch plays first. Nico Hoerner plays second, Matt Shaw is at third, and Reese McGuire does the catching.
Must be a truly awful case of bubble guts for Carson Kelly.
Was it over when the Germán beaned Kris Bryant? Not necessarily, but Germán Márquez is now teammates with the former Cub and he’s regressed rapidly over the last few seasons. The only thing more amazing than having seven losses through 10 starts is how Márquez somehow has 0.5 fWAR despite that record and his 7.66 ERA. There does appear to be some bad luck involved, but his strikeouts have plummeted from 2015, when he was a double-digit K/9 guy.
Through his first 10 starts, Márquez has only 26 punches to 18 walks in 47 innings. His 11.9% strikeout rate is lower than just one of 291 MLB pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched this season, and Antonio Senzatelza (11.2%) is on the same team. Márquez’s 95 mph fastball plays much slower due to his second-percentile extension of 5.6 feet, plus it lacks any outlier characteristics to offset that issue. His sinker rides more than average, which isn’t great, and his slider gets less movement in both planes.
The only thing he’s got going for him is the ability to avoid barrels, which has led to a marked reduction in home runs. It helps that six of his starts have come on the road, and a steady wind blowing in from right at 10 mph should blunt some of his mistakes. The righty has historically pitched to traditional splits, but righties are really getting after him now that he’s upped the sinker usage and swapped his curve and slider usage.
Even though his knuckle-curve has been decent on the whole, he has a tendency to hang it. The same is true of the slider, hence the change in repertoire. Though he was more balanced with his deployment of the slider in the past, he now throws it almost exclusively to right-handed hitters. His three main pitches skew slightly toward lefties, with his changeup only being thrown to them.
Márquez has been beaten up quite a bit and could always have a gem in him, but this is a game the Cubs should win going away. First pitch is at 7:05pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
