Cubs vs. Padres Lineup: Busch Moves Back Up, Can Swanson Keep It Going? More
Cubs vs. Padres Lineup: Busch Moves Up, Can Swanson Keep It Going? More Homers?
The Cubs will go for a sweep of the Padres on Wednesday afternoon.Zoe Grossman|
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Chicago CubsSan Diego PadresThe Chicago Cubs have won 14 of their last 18 games, and they'll look to stay scorching hot on Wednesday afternoon as they go for the sweep of the visiting San Diego Padres.
Cubs hitters smacked a season-high five home runs in Tuesday's 9-7 win, including a multi-homer game for Dansby Swanson (his second such game in his last eight). Also adding on were Alex Bregman, Michael Busch, and Pete Crow-Armstrong.
The Padres added four long balls of their own, two of them coming from Fernando Tatis Jr.
The wind will be blowing out to center field once again, which could set up a high-scoring afternoon finale.
Game Info
Who: San Diego Padres (43-41) at Chicago Cubs (48-38)
Where: Wrigley Field
When: 1:20 p.m. CT
Watch: Marquee Sports Network
Listen: 104.3 The Score, Univision TUDN, WPPN 106.7 / TUDN
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF
2. Alex Bregman, 3B
3. Michael Busch, 1B
4. Seiya Suzuki, RF
5. Ian Happ, LF
6. Nico Hoerner, 2B
7. Michael Conforto, DH
8. Miguel Amaya, C
9. Dansby Swanson, SS
Craig Counsell shuffled the batting order back around after he dropped Busch to fifth on Tuesday. Busch is hitting just .111 over his last seven games, but his towering home run on Tuesday and a favorable matchup against right-hander Walker Buehler bring him back up to the three-hole.
Conforto reenters the fold after Kevin Alcántara took over utility duties in Tuesday's win. Conforto's RBI single on Monday helped lift the Cubs to a 3-2 win.
And while Swanson is in ninth, don't let that fool you – he's finally on the offensive tear that he's capable of having, hitting .309 (17-for-55) over his last 15 games with six home runs and 21 RBI.
San Diego Padres Lineup
1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Gavin Sheets, LF
3. Manny Machado, DH
4. Ty France, 1B
5. Jackson Merrill, CF
6. Xander Bogaerts, SS
7. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
8. Rodolfo Durán, C
9. Sung-Mun Song, 3B
The Padres opt for four left-handed bats (Sheets, Merrill, Cronenworth, Song), to face a right-handed starter for the first time this series in Colin Rea.
San Diego hitters have racked up 24 hits in the first two games, but it's amounted to just nine total runs in the two losses. Although Machado hit a home run Tuesday, his offensive struggles have largely contributed to the Padres' larger issues at the plate. Machado's .189 average is tied for the worst in MLB among qualified hitters.
On The Mound...
Chicago Cubs - Colin Rea, RHP (5-5, 4.80 ERA)
Rea's biggest challenge will be keeping the ball out of the air in the finale. The positive is that he's coming off back-to-back starts without allowing a home run, which includes the five innings of one-run ball he tossed in Milwaukee last time out.
Rea still struggled in June, pitching to a 5.04 ERA in his five starts (25 IP).
Both Machado and Cronenworth have homered off Rea in the past and have seen success against the right-hander.
San Diego Padres - Walker Buehler, RHP (5-3, 3.81 ERA)
Cubs hitters are quite familiar with former longtime Los Angeles Dodger in Buehler.
Conforto has two home runs against the righty in 11 at-bats to go along with a 1.203 OPS. Busch has also homered off the 31-year-old.
Swanson has struggled against him, hitting just .154 in 13 at-bats.
Buehler has also been pitching very well over the last month. He had a 1.71 ERA in June and gave up just two home runs in 26.1 innings. He shut down his former team, the Dodgers, in his last start, going 5.1 innings and allowing just one earned run while punching out five.
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Published 30 minutes ago
ZOE GROSSMANI am a sports journalist and content producer born and raised on Chicago's North Side. I graduated from the University of Denver in 2022 with a Bachelor's degree in Media Studies and from Northwestern University in 2024 with a Master's degree in Journalism. As a student, I earned bylines in USA TODAY and FanSided and covered a wide range of sporting events, including Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas and the NBA Draft Combine. I previously covered the Chicago Cubs as a beat writer and digital content producer at Marquee Sports Network during the 2025 season. I also assisted in coverage of the Bears, Sky, Fire and Stars. I most recently covered the 2026 Winter Olympics with NBC Sports, where I wrote about bobsled, luge and skeleton for NBCOlympics.com. When I'm not writing, I love to play my guitar (I'm a lefty!), find the best cold brew coffee in the city and watch my beloved Chicago sports teams on TV.
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Ohio: 116 School Districts Now Allow Armed Employees
Ohio: 116 School Districts Now Allow Armed Employees
Four years after Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed legislation allowing school boards to choose to allow teachers and other employees to be armed, 116 school districts have chosen to allow armed employees for classroom defense.
WOWO reported that the figure of “116 school districts” is derived from state data “as of June 17.”
The Ohio Capital Journal noted that the 116 districts include “more than 70 Ohio school districts and 15 Christian schools…[with] staff members who are authorized to carry weapons on school grounds.”
Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper criticized the training requirements for the growing number of armed school employees, saying, “It’s not a sufficient amount of training. We’re talking about highly intense situations that require a lot of not only tactical training on how to use weapons, but how to deal with making split-second decisions.”
She did not provide an instance where an armed teacher or employee has harmed someone since the law was signed by DeWine.
Antwerp district superintendent Marty Miller explained that his district chose to arm teachers and employees because they are in a rural setting with a longer police response time.
He said, “It’s just letting the public know that your children are protected.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at [email protected].
10-year-old charged with murder in shooting of infant niece
10-year-old charged with murder in shooting of infant niece
The infant's father is also facing multiple criminal charges.
ByNadine El-BawabVideo byJessie DiMartino and Cristina CorujoJuly 1, 2026, 2:43 PMA 10-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his 7-month-old niece, according to court officials.
The young boy allegedly picked up a firearm that was stored under a mattress and shot the 7-month-old infant in the head, according to court documents.
Another child, a 7-year-old, was also home at the time of the shooting, according to court documents.
St. Louis Metropolitan Police responded to a report of a shooting on Friday to find that the infant had been shot inside the house.
Related16 children rescued from Ohio home where they were living in 'deplorable conditions,' officials sayThe 7-month-old was rushed to an area hospital, but despite life-saving care, died of her injuries, according to police.
Detectives investigating the incident determined that the 10-year-old had allegedly shot the baby, and he was taken into custody, police said.
After questioning, the infant's father, identified as 19-year-old Ca’Marion Pawnell, was also arrested, according to police.
Pawnell was charged with second-degree murder and multiple child endangerment charges, according to court documents.
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The father is accused of endangering a child "by allowing a firearm to be within access of other children in the home and this resulted in death" of the infant, prosecutors alleged in court documents.
RelatedBrother of NFL star Calais Campbell charged with their mother's murderPawnell allegedly told police the gun belonged to him and he stored it under the mattress, according to court documents.
The 10-year-old told investigators that he knew where the firearm was and that it was "accessible to him for an extended period of time," saying he had even taken it out and touched it previously, according to court documents.
RelatedToddler found dead in SUV outside Florida preschoolThe 10-year-old is in the custody of the Missouri Children’s Division and was taken in for psychiatric evaluation, according to Missouri’s 22nd Circuit Court.
Missouri law states that a child under 12 years old cannot be tried as an adult, so the 10-year-old will be tried through the Juvenile Division of the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court, according to a communications officer for the court.
No attorney information was listed for Pawnell. It was not immediately clear if the 10-year-old had an attorney.
