Batting practice not all it's cracked up to be

Batting practice? Who needs batting practice?

Certainly not the Cubs and the Pirates during Friday's 11-10 victory for the Cubs in 12 innings. For the second day in a row, Cubs manager Joe Maddon did not have team take batting practice.

"I think it's the most overrated thing that we do, on a daily basis," Maddon said. "We swing the bat way too often. I don't even know what the genesis of that was.

"Batting practice became a longer exercise, and extra batting practice and hitting off tees and hitting in cages and hitting and swinging and swinging and swinging. I think it could be counterproductive. I think guys can hit themselves right through feel. You could be feeling really well. My point is if you do it too often, you get to the point where you lose that feel. All of a sudden it becomes like swinging a fence post."

The Cubs were scheduled to take batting practice before Saturday's 3:05 p.m. game, but no more.

"We took it during the game," Maddon quipped.

Maddon added that during his managerial career, he has had his team go as long as a week without taking formal batting practice.

Ross feeling OK:

Catcher David Ross checked in fine Friday morning after having to leave Thursday's game with abdominal tightness. Welington Castillo started Friday against the Pirates and was replace by Miguel Montero.

Ross tweaked something during an at-bat and then bunted foul with two strikes to make the third out of the eighth inning Thursday.

"Just getting in this morning, no soreness, not since last night," he said. "I feel good. Maybe I released some scar tissue or something. I'm 38. There's no telling what this body has been through.

"It was a little tweak, and Joe (Maddon) wanted me to bunt to make sure I didn't do anything crazy. Joe was pretty adamant that I do not swing. 'Do not swing. Bunt. Drag bunt,' I was like, 'All right.' We had the lead. I just wanted to try to get out of here with a win, worry about my body later."

This and that:

Anthony Rizzo hit his eighth homer run and his first off a left-handed pitcher (Jeff Locke) this year. ... Kris Bryant hit his fourth homer in his last seven games after not hitting one in the first 20 games of his big-league career. ... Jorge Soler drew a career-high 4 walks (2 intentional). ... James Russell made his 323rd appearance as a Cub, tying Willie Hernandez for the most in franchise history by a left-handed pitcher.