The Cubs have been saying for a while that they thought Nico Hoerner had the skillset to bat leadoff and he gets the chance to do that tonight in Atlanta. He’ll also be playing short as Javy Báez gets the night off. Willson Contreras bats second at catcher, followed by Anthony Rizzo at first and Kris Bryant once again handling left. Ian Happ slides back to fifth in center, David Bote is at third, Jason Heyward is in right, and Eric Sogard is at second.
Zach Davies looked better in his last outing, but he still didn’t work very efficiently and appeared at times to be aiming his pitches rather than trusting them.