Cubs' Maddon works on Soler's 'thinking'

If nothing else, Cubs manager Joe Maddon is not afraid to try things.

In Saturday's 6-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Maddon moved slumping right fielder Jorge Soler into the leadoff spot.

Soler entered the game 4-for-30 over his previous eight games with 17 strikeouts. He also went into Saturday leading the National League in strikeouts, with 35.

In his first plate appearance, Soler saw 8 pitches and walked. He later flied out, struck out and singled.

"I've been debating on this one, just to get him going," Maddon said. "I've done it in the past with different guys, just to have him think differently. It's not about changing your mechanics or trying new things, it's to think differently.

"When a hitter is not going as he can, the last thing you want to do is change his physical mechanics. You want to change his mental mechanics first.

"The whole job I want to get across to him is, 'You're out there to score runs. Don't worry about homers. Don't worry about hits. Go out there and score runs.' "

Center fielder Dexter Fowler, who had led off in 20 of the Cubs' first 21 games, batted second Saturday.

"I talked to Dexter about it," Maddon said. "He was all for it."

Good give and take:

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred visited with the Cubs and Brewers before Friday's series opener.

Joe Maddon said much of the talk in the clubhouse with Manfred was about MLB's new pace-of-game procedures, which are aimed at speeding up the games.

"Our guys did a nice job asking questions," Maddon said. "I think it was a good meeting. Just a couple things brought up about pace of the game. One of our players brought up that in the latter part of the game, that it always gets a little hotter and maybe we shouldn't be so decisive about the rules at that point because it does require a little more thought.

"I thought that was a good point."

This and that:

Cubs batters struck out 18 times Saturday. Before that, the most recent time they fanned 18 times was Aug. 14, 2011, at Atlanta. The Cubs have struck out 10 or more times in 10 of 22 games this year. … Reliever Edwin Jackson gave up an unearned run, but he has not allowed an earned run in 9 innings, covering 6 appearances. … First baseman Anthony Rizzo's .480 on-base percentage was tops in the big leagues at game's end.