Chicago Cubs playing it safe with Bryant

The Chicago Cubs know they need Kris Bryant to produce the way he did in his first three years in the big leagues.

Manager Joe Maddon also knows he has to be careful with Bryant's left shoulder, which had him on the disabled list from July 24-Sept. 1.

Since Bryant came off the DL, he was 20-for-72 (. 278) with 6 doubles, a homer and 5 RBI entering Tuesday. Maddon held Bryant out of Sunday's series finale against the White Sox and thought about doing so again Monday, but Bryant was good to go.

"He's feeling good," Maddon said. "I know the shoulder was down a couple days, but overall like (Monday), he felt pretty good when I talked to him.

"He just needs a rest now and then. Just looking to get him as many at-bats as possible to get the ball on the fat part of the bat more consistently. You know what he's capable of. We just haven't seen that on a consistent basis."

The possible solution?

"Keep throwing him out there," Maddon said. "He had one or two really good hacks last night. We could definitely use it, there's no doubt about it. We could use what we've seen over the last couple of years more consistently.

"It would make a huge difference in what we're doing right now. Just continue to support him and listen to him and talk to him and figure out how we can help him. But mechanically speaking, it looked pretty good."

Holding the pen together:

Reliever Pedro Strop was all smiles Tuesday as he returned from a throwing session. Strop has not thrown off the mound since he injured his left hamstring running to first base on Sept. 13 at Washington.

He has been the de facto closer since Brandon Morrow was shut down for the season after having not pitched since July.

"I'd be more happy to get Stropy back more than anything," Joe Maddon said. "The guys that have been out there have been doing a great job."

The Cubs entered Tuesday with the best bullpen ERA in the National League, at 3.35.

It's not known whether Strop will be able to pitch again before the regular season ends Sunday.

"Since that game in Washington, the bullpen has had a nice method about it where nobody's been overextended," said Maddon referring to the Sept. 13 game, in which he used eight relievers in a 10-inning victory. "Actually, we were looking for work for (Steve) Cishek and (Carl) Edwards and (Jesse) Chavez.

"We were looking for work when we got to the White Sox Series. I think they're pretty good right now as a group."

How does that happen?

The Cubs entered Tuesday having scored 1 run in each of their previous five games against the Pirates, with all the runs coming on solo homers.

"It's just a weird stat that we're all looking into right now," Joe Maddon said. "The thing is, we did it four times in Pittsburgh and won two games. We won two 1-0 games. I don't know. They have good pitching, and they pitch well against us. Not only their starters, but their bullpen is pretty good."