Chicago Cubs Lineup (7/21/25): Suzuki in CF, Turner DH, Brasier/Brown on Bump
The Cubs took two of three from the Red Sox over the weekend, but losing on Sunday meant the Brewers’ sweep of the Dodgers in LA created a tie atop the NL Central. The only team with a better record is the Tigers, which is fitting since the Cubs are basically an AL team now. They are about to play their 10th straight interleague game in a stretch that will reach 15 with the White Sox coming up next.
Righty reliever Ryan Brasier gets the start on Monday night, but he is really just serving as the opener for what should be a bulk appearance by Ben Brown. The Cubs demoted Brown in part to limit his innings as he was zooming toward a career high. He had never thrown more than 104 in a season, and that was in 2022. With 79.1 in MLB and another nine in the minors, Brown should easily eclipse that.
Over two starts with Iowa, Brown gave up just one run on four hits while striking out five and walking none. He threw the changeup with higher frequency than usual, even using it right-on-right, so we’ll get a chance to see whether he has gained more confidence in it.
Maybe he’ll feel better about it if the Cubs can spot him a few runs with a makeshift lineup. Second baseman Nico Hoerner is in the leadoff spot with a lefty on the mound, Kyle Tucker is in left, and Seiya Suzuki fills in at center with Pete Crow-Armstrong nursing a bruised knee. Carson Kelly catches and bats cleanup, Ian Happ is in left, Dansby Swanson is at short, and Michael Busch handles first. Justin Turner keeps getting chances, this time at DH, and Matt Shaw is at third.
Toeing the slab for KC is lefty Noah Cameron, a 26-year-old rookie who was born and raised just about 30 miles north of his employer in St. Joseph, MO. A big-time strikeout guy in the minors, Cameron’s K rate isn’t nearly as impressive at the highest level. However, his 2.31 ERA is evidence that he’s doing something right. His cutty 92-93 mph fastball has not been very effective, but his slider and curve have done big things.
Cameron has a balanced attack that sees the fastball used about 28% of the time, followed by nearly even distribution of the change (20%), slider (18%), cutter (17%), and curve (17%). The change has gotten good results with a lot less depth than most of its kind, and he uses it almost exclusively against right-handed hitters. The slider is mainly a weapon against lefties, with the cutter and curve going mainly to righties with some like-handed usage.
The splits have been pretty even as well, though righties have a better OBP and lefties get way more slug. Cameron has done a very good job of limiting walks and homers, so the drop in strikeouts has been more than mitigated by a general lack of hard contact against him. With the exception of starts in which he allowed six and five runs respectively, Cameron has given up two or fewer runs each time out. His most recent start saw him toss 6.2 shutout frames despite seven hits.
This could be a tough matchup for the Cubs, but I like the way they’ve been able to bounce back from losses this season. Maybe they can bruise up that ERA a little bit tonight. First pitch is at 7:05pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
