Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/19/25, Game 1): Counsell Finally Comes to His Senses, Boyd Starting

The Cubs soiled the bed yet again in the early game, collecting just two hits in a shutout loss. One of those came from Owen Caissie, who Craig Counsell had been refusing to play over the cooked version of Kyle Tucker. After three weak rollovers to the right side, it looks like Counsell has finally decided to give the struggling right fielder some legit rest.

It’s really easy to criticize from a distance, but this move is long overdue. Not that it’ll matter if the whole team fails to hit. Maybe Matthew Boyd will hold the Brewers to negative runs so that even a complete lack of offense can still lead to a win. Jameson Taillon was supposed to have taken the bump last night, but he’s been bumped back to the late game today.

As for the lineup, the Cubs have Michael Busch at first, Ian Happ in left, Seiya Suzuki at DH, and Pete Crow-Armstrong cleans up in center. Willi Castro is at second, Caissie is suddenly good enough to play right field, Dansby Swanson is at short, Reese McGuire does the catching, and Matt Shaw is at third.

They’re up against rookie righty Chad Patrick, who suffered a loss back on June 17 at Wrigley. He went through a rough stretch there in which he allowed 13 runs over three starts, then he was optioned to Triple-A in early July. This is Patrick’s first start back at the MLB level, so we’ll see whether the Crown Point, IN native has made any adjustments. Before we get to that, I want to point out that this dude was drafted out of Division II Purdue Northwest in Hammond.

That’s where both of my parents earned their degrees, though they attended the original Westville campus when it was still called Purdue North Central. My mom graduated before I was born, but my dad went to college at the age of 30 following his retirement from farming. At that time, the satellite campus was populated mainly by nontraditional students. I don’t think they had sports at that point either.

Anyway, it’s a cool story that a local kid managed to make it to the highest level of his sport via PNW.

Patrick looks a little like a young Devin Sawa circa the Stan video, but I doubt he’s got a tattoo of Eminem’s name across the chest. What he does have is a cutter-first repertoire that sees him throwing the 88 mph breaking ball over 40% of the time. That offering has a lot more ride than most of its kind, and it’s probably something he worked on following the demotion.

The 94 mph sinker is Patrick’s best pitch by far, though it doesn’t appear to have any exceptional qualities. It has a lot more ride than the average sinker and doesn’t bust right-handed hitters on the hands or produce grounders at a high level. It also generates whiffs at less than half the rate of any of his other pitches. Maybe it’s just a fluke, though it makes up 23% of his pitches.

His 94 mph four-seam accounts for 22% and hasn’t been great, nor have the slider or change. Left-handed hitters have really gotten to Patrick, slashing .287/.368/.401, but righties have hit eight of the 10 homers he’s allowed. Suzuki was responsible for one of those in their last matchup, and Shaw drove in a run with a double.

This is another of those matchups that looks really good on paper for the Cubs, but we’ve seen far too many times now how none of that matters. Between their sluggish hitting and the Brewers’ hot play mixed with extreme good fortune, nothing can be taken for granted.

First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.

Let’s play two (again)!

Watch game one on the Marquee Sports Network App. pic.twitter.com/4xettCaMTQ

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 19, 2025