Chicago Cubs Lineup (7/3/25): Suzuki in RF, Shaw Batting 8, Horton Going for Sweep
The Cubs have taken the first two games of this series in unremarkable fashion, scoring five runs in each and pitching well enough to keep the Guardians at bay. Now comes the difficult part as they go for a sweep that would give Cleveland seven straight losses.
Cade Horton is coming off of the worst start of his MLB career, a four-inning effort in which he was bombed for seven earned runs on eight hits. He walked four and only struck out two as the Houston hitters seemed to know what was coming. Now he gets a chance to bounce back against another AL opponent, this one with far less firepower.
The Cubs would do well to up their scoring regardless of what Horton does, especially with a fill-in opener on the bump. Ian Happ leads off in left, Kyle Tucker is the DH, Seiya Suzuki plays right, and Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center. Dansby Swanson is at short, Nico Hoerner is at second, and Michael Busch serves as kind of a second cleanup hitter at first. Matt Shaw bats eighth at third and Reese McGuire is the catcher.
Righty Luis Ortiz was originally scheduled to start this one, but the Guardians released a statement Thursday morning saying he has been “placed on leave per an agreement with the Players Association due to an ongoing league investigation.” It was subsequently revealed that a gambling-integrity firm identified two specific pitches from Ortiz that had unusual gambling action on them.
I just don’t understand how this could happen. I mean, it’s not as though MLB inextricably tied itself to a number of different gambling entities. And we aren’t beaten over the head with various props and parlays during every single broadcast. Wait, that’s exactly what’s going on. A league that dictates managers submit their lineups to Vegas before releasing them publicly really doesn’t have much integrity when it comes to its players being wrapped up in stuff like this.
In Ortiz’s place, they will use lefty reliever Joey Cantillo. The Honolulu native worked mainly as a starter in the minors and during a brief stint in the bigs last season, but he’s come out of the bullpen in all 21 of his appearances this year. Ten of those have been multi-inning efforts, so he may be asked to record more than three outs in this one. How long he stays out there will depend on whether he can be efficient, something that has been an issue in the past.
Cantillo is a big-time strikeout pitcher despite a pedestrian 92 mph fastball that has -7 run value according to Statcast. With 621 punchies over 480 professional innings, it’s clear he’s got a knack for missing bats. He has also walked 223 batters, so his pitch counts tend to be inflated. Cantillo’s stuff is deceptive due to his 7.4-foot extension, allowing that fastball and his secondaries to play up a bit.
He loves his changeup, a 78 mph offering that has a lot less depth than most, and will throw it nearly 40% of the time. Cantill also throws a big-breaking 12-6 curve from a high arm slot, then he’s got a tight bullet slider. The former comes in around 76 and the latter is much firmer at 85, giving him a broad velocity range in spite of the lack of top-end.
This move could backfire on the Guardians because Cantillo has mild reverse splits that should favor a lineup with two big left-handed bats at the top of the order. We’ll find out exactly how it all works out at 7:05pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
Last one against the Guards.
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— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 3, 2025
