Carson

Kelly

Chicago manager Craig Counsell will stick with a near-identical lineup, with the exception of Matt Shaw at the hot corner instead of Pedro Ramírez, after Tuesday’s unexpected Game 1 shutout loss at the hands of Michael King and the Padres. Crow-Armstrong struck out three times in four plate appearances in that defeat. Here’s the full lineup: Crow-Armstrong (CF), Alex Bregman (DH), Michael Busch (1B), Seiya Suzuki (RF), Ian Happ (LF), Nico Hoerner (2B), Matt Shaw (3B), Carson Kelly (C) and Dansby Swanson (SS).

Bregman is ready for the start of the postseason after returning to Chicago’s lineup less than one week after suffering multiple facial fractures when he was hit by a foul ball in the on-deck circle. It’ll be rookie Pedro Ramírez filling in at the hot corner with Bregman limited to DH as he continues to recover. Here’s the full lineup for Tuesday’s series opener in San Diego: Pete Crow-Armstrong (CF), Bregman (DH), Michael Busch (1B), Seiya Suzuki (RF), Ian Happ (LF), Nico Hoerner (2B), Ramírez (3B), Carson Kelly (C) and Dansby Swanson (SS).

Kelly smacked a one-out single off of Logan Henderson in the third inning then rode home on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s two-run blast that proved to be the difference in the ballgame. Kelly has had a decent season overall at the dish, slashing .263/.344/.393 with 10 homers and 52 RBI in 372 plate appearances.

Kelly’s home run was his eighth of the year. He hit a solo shot off Diamondbacks reliever Taylor Clarke in the sixth inning. Kelly’s home run followed Michael Conforto’s homer as the two went back-to-back. He’s hitting .262 with a .722 OPS and 45 RBI.

He popped a hanging Kevin Gausman slider well into the left-center field stands some 428 feet away to make it 6-0 Cubs early, and added on a bases loaded walk and an RBI dribbler late in the game that died like a perfectly placed-bunt down the third base line. Kelly needed a game like this and remains firmly on the deep-league catcher radar with his .282/.369/.390 triple slash line.

Kelly continues to swing a hot bat for the Cubs, and is now slashing .281/.324/.313 on the month. The veteran catcher drove in his first run of the night in the fourth inning when he singled home Ian Happy, and later drove in Alex Bregman from third on another RBI single in the seventh inning. In a four-run eighth inning for the Cubs, Kelly doubled with the bases loaded to drive home both Bregman and Seiya Suzuki, to put the finishing touches on one of his best nights at the dish. Kelly has had a decent month, but has yet to homer and has only one extra-base hit to show for his efforts over that span.

Kelly batted for designated hitter Moisés Ballesteros after the Mets replaced Freddy Peralta with lefty Brooks Raley in the sixth and hit a 431-foot homer on the first pitch he saw. Kelly is batting .340/.450/.520 with two homers, 10 RBI and 10 walks in 60 plate appearances. Miguel Amaya is doing a nice job, too, hitting .273/.400/.394, but he’s just not gaining any ground in the battle for playing time.

Busch takes a seat for the second straight contest with Philadelphia ace Cristopher Sánchez toeing the rubber during Monday’s series opener. The 28-year-old first baseman has gotten off to an abysmal start, hitting .135 (7-for-52) with zero homers and three RBI through 15 games. Carson Kelly takes over at first base to open the game. It’s not quite time to panic, but Busch could be limited to facing righties almost exclusively until he gets back on track.

With the score tied 6-6 in the bottom of the ninth, Kelly scorched a “single” that would have been an extra-base hit if the runner at third wasn’t the winner. The 31-year-old has swung a nice stick to begin the year with a slash of .308/.426/.385, and he gets to call himself the hero of this Cubs’ comeback win as well.

Amaya has started to see some time at DH against lefties, which is a good sign for how the Cubs feel about his bat. The bad news is that he’s hit ninth in every game he’s appeared in this year. Amaya, off to a .375/.444/.750 start with a homer in his first nine plate appearances, probably deserves to cut into Carson Kelly’s playing time more than he did last year. We’re skeptical it actually happens. Kelly is batting cleanup against LHP Joey Cantillo.