Chicago Cubs Lineup (5/4/26): Familiar Batting Order, Cabrera Starting
The Cubs have been a force to be reckoned with at home, and they come into this series winners of 11 straight with three sweeps in a row at Wrigley. That coincided with three losses by the Reds to move the Cubs into sole possession of first place in the NL Central by two games. Now they’ve got a chance to create a little more breathing room in this four-game set.
A lot of folks are saying May the Fourth be with you today, but the Cubs need to focus on the first. Game, that is. Edward Cabrera has yet to take a loss with his new team, though his recent results have put that perfect record at risk. The righty has allowed three earned runs on at least six hits in each of his last four starts, and the wind will be blowing out again this evening.
These Reds hitters have had Cabrera’s number, with an aggregate 1.091 OPS over 29 at-bats. He needs to limit the walks and hard contact in order to keep the visitors from establishing early momentum and forcing the Cubs to play from behind. While that hasn’t been much of a problem so far, it’ll be much easier on the bullpen in this long series if Cabrera can work deep into the game.
It’ll be easier still if the offense jumps out front and maintains a big lead. Nico Hoerner has been incredible atop the order and at second base, and Moisés Ballesteros is proving to be everything the Cubs had hoped for as the DH. Alex Bregman plays and bats third, Ian Happ keeps proving his doubters wrong in left, and Seiya is in right. Michael Busch plays first, Carson Kelly is the catcher, Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, and Dansby Swanson is at short.
Opposing them is 23-year-old righty Chase Petty, who made his MLB debut with two rough starts and a relief appearance last year. Originally drafted 26th overall by the Twins in 2021, Petty was traded to the Reds for Sonny Gray and Francis Peguero the following March. He marched steadily through the system and is at No. 7 on MLB Pipeline’s list of the team’s top prospects, but he’s really struggled with control and consistency.
His fastball sits around 97 mph and touches 100, but he is a slider-first pitcher who will throw his breaking balls over 40% of the time. He’s got a cutty gyro at around 90 mph and a sweeper in the low 80s, but those pitches fell off in the second half last season. Petty has been throwing his sinker much more than his four-seam this year at Triple-A, and he’s also doubled up the usage of his changeup.
Hitters really started to tee off on the heater in the second half last season, and everything but the sinker was victimized during his brief stint in the bigs. He’s been very good at limiting homers in the minors, so tonight’s conditions might not be as daunting to him as they would be for fly-ball pitchers. That said, even a stellar performance by Petty will last no more than 4-5 innings. He’s logged just 24.2 innings over six starts at Louisville, which tells us Cincy’s bullpen may have to do some heavy lifting.
I will not be surprised if Petty comes out and carves tonight, nor will it be the least bit shocking if he gets shelled. I think this could easily be one or the other, maybe a combination of both, but I don’t believe we’ll see an uneventful outing. Let’s hope the events are all falling in favor of the Cubs.
First pitch is at 6:10pm CT — they pushed it up 30 minutes because of rain in the forecast — on Marquee and The Score.
The start of four.
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— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 4, 2026
