Rizzo does it all for Chicago Cubs in victory

MILWAUKEE - Barring a trade for a position player, it looks like Cubs manager Joe Maddon will do his best to mix and match with what he has.

Such was the case again Thursday night when the Cubs met the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

It was third baseman Kris Bryant's turn not to start, so Maddon went with Chris Coghlan - primarily a left fielder - at third and rookie catcher Kyle Schwarber in left field.

The Cubs are looking for a starting pitcher to bolster their rotation, and with the offense in a midsummer slump, any new bat also would be welcome.

One of the "older" bats was more than welcome late in the game.

Anthony Rizzo crushed a 3-run homer to right field with two outs in the eighth inning to rally the Cubs from a 2-0 deficit and help lift them to a 5-2 victory. Rizzo pretty much did it all for the Cubs. Until the eighth, the Cubs had only 2 hits, both by Rizzo.

Unless a deal by Friday's nonwaiver trading deadline, Maddon will go with what he has. He even mentioned before the game of needing to find Rizzo a day off.

"It's on hold right now," Maddon said with a smile after the game.

If the Cubs (54-47) do have to go with what they have, Rizzo said he thinks it can work.

"Honestly, whatever happens, happens," he said. "One player on this team can get hot offensively and carry the load for a while and then another guy gets hot. It's bound to happen. Guys (are) up and down, up and down, so it's bound to happen where somebody can take off."

Until then, Maddon will try to hit the lottery with whatever combinations he rolls out.

"When you're trying to rest people, the more you can move people around and you try to do it in a way that you feel comfortable on defense at the same time," Maddon said. "It's good to have that versatility, move guys around.

"Schwarber's done a nice job. We've had him in two spots. Eventually you might even see him at another spot, maybe at first base down the road as part of his graduate-school studies."

The Cubs did little with Brewers starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson, who worked 7 innings and gave up the 2 hits to Rizzo. Jake Arrieta started for the Cubs and earned a quality start as he pitched 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits.

"Rossie (catcher David Ross) and I were both frustrated kind of how things were going early on, struggling and battling to find command with the fastball on both sides of the plate," Arrieta said. "The breaking balls weren't where we wanted them early, but we battled through it, made some good pitches, slowed some things down later in the game."

The Cubs' offensive struggles looked maddeningly familiar in the second. Rizzo led off with a double to left-center and went to third on a wild pitch.

The Cubs couldn't score. Jorge Soler grounded back to the pitcher. Struggling Starlin Castro followed by flailing at a pitch low and outside of the zone for a strikeout. Ross ended the inning with a groundout.

Bryant got into the game as pinch hitter in the seventh. Rizzo led off that inning with a single. Soler was then called out on strikes. With Castro up, Rizzo was off with the pitch. Castro grounded to shortstop Jean Segura, who flipped to second base, but Rizzo was safe. Second baseman Scooter Gennett was able to get Castro at first.

Ross walked, and Maddon turned to Bryant as a pinch hitter for Arrieta, but Bryant struck out. Bryant added a sacrifice fly in the ninth.