Chicago Cubs Lineup (6/23/25): Swanson Batting Cleanup, Turner 1B, Brown Starting
The Cubs have now lost three of their last four series and went just 5-4 across nine home games, and have seen their division lead trimmed to 3.5 games as a result. With four in St. Louis starting tonight, the race could really tighten up if their play doesn’t improve. The early part of the season was categorized by a potent offense, then things shifted to a strong pitching staff with a surprisingly competent bullpen. Lately, however, the good hasn’t outweighed the bad frequently enough.
Ben Brown has been part of that in both directions, allowing no more than two runs in four of his last seven appearances, with six or more runs in the other three. Shota Imanaga’s return on Thursday will push someone from the rotation, so Brown could be auditioning to keep his role. While Colin Rea is the more likely casualty of the lefty’s activation from the IL, Brown needs to show that he can be consistent from outing to outing.
The offense needs to do the same after scuffling for much of the month, though getting the benefit of a howling wind saw the bats get almost as hot as the temperatures this past weekend. Ian Happ has gotten going again and he’ll lead off, followed by Kyle Tucker in right and Seiya Suzuki at DH. Dansby Swanson cleans up at short, Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, Carson Kelly is catching, and Nico Hoerner is at second. Justin Turner is at first and Matt Shaw bats ninth at third.
They’re facing 25-year-old lefty Matthew Liberatore, who is on for the 15th time in what is shaping up to be his best season by a wide margin. It’s his first as a full-time starter after making 67 of his first 81 career appearances out of the bullpen. An elite strike-thrower who rarely walks batters, Liberatore gets a lot of chase with a six-pitch mix highlighted by an excellent changeup.
Despite making up just 13% of his repertoire, the changeup has generated at least six runs of value so far. That’s far more than the rest of his pitches combined, especially with his fastball and cutter combining for -6.5 runs. Even though the changeup is thrown to right-handed batters, Liberatore still has massive traditional splits. That’s because his sinker and slider have been plus pitches that allow him to keep the ball in the yard.
His recent performance has been a little spotty, though, with five of his seven homers allowed coming in four of his last five games. Giving up more hits than innings pitched can come back to haunt you when the weather warms up and the ball flies farther. Even with the scarcity of free passes, Liberatore can quickly find himself in trouble if he leaves the ball over the plate.
Working mainly as a reliever in the past means he has very little experience against this Cubs team, just 22 total at-bats. Happ has homered against Liberatore, but there are only three other hits from members of the current roster. Getting more knocks shouldn’t be an issue tonight, it’ll just be a matter of stringing them together to do damage.
First pitch is at 6:45pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
