UPDATE to Lineup: Anthony Rizzo Held Out with Back Soreness, Baez at 1st, Almora in LF

UPDATE: Shortly after the lineup was released today the Cubs announced that Anthony Rizzo will now be sitting out tonight’s game with back soreness. He’s considered day-to-day and we’ll definitely keep an eye on this, hoping that it’s nothing serious.

Taking Anthony’s place at first base will be Javier Baez. Kris Bryant slots in at third base, and Albert Amora gets his second big league start of his career. Everything else stays the same, however the lineup order was shuffled and is now as follows:

1. Dexter Fowler (S) CF
2. Jason Heyward (L) RF
3. Kris Bryant (R) 3B
4. Ben Zobrist (S) 2B
5. Miguel Montero (L) C
6. Javier Baez (R) 1B
7. Addison Russell (R) SS
8. Albert Almora Jr. (R) LF
9. Jason Hammel (R) P

It’s back to a more traditional lineup tonight for the Chicago Cubs (41-17) as they march into Atlanta to tussle with the Braves (17-42), who’ve been nothing short of awful this year, but still managed to split a rain-shortened series earlier in the season against the Cubs.

Jason Hammel (7-1, 2.14 ERA) gets the first crack at the Braves tonight. We mentioned it in our series preview, Jason hasn’t had much, if any, success against the Braves in his career. He’s 2-4 with a 5+ ERA. With the way Jason has pitched so far this season, I won’t be surprised to see him come out and shut down the Braves tonight, or at least that’s what should happen.

This will also be the Cubs’ first game since acquiring Chris Coghlan in a trade that sent Arismendy Alcantara to the Oakland A’s just yesterday. It’s good to see Chris back and I think we’re going to see a high energy effort out of the boys tonight.

6:35 PM CDT on CSN

Jason Hammel (R)
@ Braves – Bud Norris (R)
1. Dexter Fowler (S) CF
2. Jason Heyward (L) RF
3. Kris Bryant (R) LF
4. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
5. Ben Zobrist (S) 2B
6. Javier Baez (R) 3B
7. Miguel Montero (L) C
8. Addison Russell (R) SS
9. Jason Hammel (R) P

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