Maddon can't justify not using Zobrist
MILWAUKEE - For a while in spring training, it looked like Cubs manager Joe Maddon might have trouble finding playing time for veteran Ben Zobrist.
After all, Zobrist came to camp with a back ailment. Javier Baez had established himself as the everyday second baseman. And then Ian Happ went out and had a super spring, winning both the center-field and leadoff spots.
But with Maddon as manager, we all should know better. Zobrist was in the starting lineup for the second straight game on Friday night, a 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. The Brewers won the game in the bottom of the ninth when Orlando Arcia singled home the winning run against lefty Mike Montgomery, scoring Manny Pina from third base.
Zobrist started in right field while Jason Heyward moved from right to center and Happ sat.
"It's called Ben Zobrist," Maddon said of his reasoning. "It's just trying to juggle all these guy. You've got Zo, Albert (Almora) and now Happ that I'm trying to balance.
"With this kind of a problem, we're going to keep them all pretty well and rested. At the beginning part of the year, everybody wants to play. Everybody's well and they're rested. Nobody wants to sit, but if this happens in the middle of July, it's a lot easier for a lot of folks to take or understand. I've got to do it this way. It's the way it needs to be, try to balance out the playing time as well as we possibly can and get a good result."
Zobrist, 36, reported to camp in good shape, other than the back. Maddon stuck with him.
"Talking about Zo in spring training, I thought he looked like he was in as good of shape as he's been in the last couple years," Maddon said. "It just happened that he had a little bit of an issue. Physically, he looks really good to me right now. He's moving well. The bat's really quick. And who works a better at-bat than he does? The way camp began I didn't know how long it was going to take him to work through those issues. Obviously he did. Now he's swinging the bat as good as he can. We've got to figure out creative ways to get them all out there so tonight I chose to do it this way."
The Cubs took a quick 2-0 lead over the Brewers, with Addison Russell and Victor Caratini hitting run-scoring singles in the first inning.
Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks cruised until the bottom of the fifth, when Eric Thames and Travis Shaw each hit 2-run homers off him to put the Brewers up 4-2.
"Couple bad pitches there," Hendricks said. "Even early, fastball command was better. They just capitalized on two bad pitches."
More aggressive baserunning by Javier Baez allowed the Cubs to tie the game in the sixth. With Russell on first base and two outs, Baez tripled to right-center, and when the relay throw hit Baez in the head as he slid into third, the ball got away, and he scored.
As a whole, the Cubs have been an aggressive baserunning team in the early going.
"We talked a lot about that in spring training," Maddon said. "We want to be that group. You don't have to be fast to be a great baserunner. We don't have oppressively great team speed. You can still run the bases smartly, and I think we've done that to this point."
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