Maddon content to bat Russell in ninth spot

MILWAUKEE - Rookie second baseman Addison Russell had a hitting streak end at 12 games in Sunday's 3-2, 11-inning loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Russell has been the Cubs' ninth-place hitter for most of the time since his call-up from Class AAA Iowa on April 21.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon didn't want to sound like he invented the wheel or even discovered America when talking about it. But Russell looks like he'll continue batting ninth for the foreseeable future.

"Here's what you have to understand about hitting ninth," Maddon said before the game. "He's not going to see any better pitches (in other spots) than he is hitting ninth. I don't want to put him in the 1-hole or 2-hole right now. I don't want to lay that on him. So if you put him seventh or put him eighth and hit the pitcher ninth, he's going to see less quality of a pitch.

"The batting order is a circular situation. It's not the Columbus batting order that falls off the face of the earth. It keeps coming round and round and around. With that, by him hitting ninth, he's going to see better stuff to hit."

Maddon was told Christopher Columbus had a 3-4-5 in his order of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.

"That was pretty firm in the middle," he replied. "He was pretty pleased with that. But he went down to the Dominican Republic, and they got their butts kicked."

But seriously, Maddon further explained what he's doing with Russell and the other position players who have batted ninth. Cubs pitchers have batted eighth all year so far.

"Part of the whole game plan in my mind's eye of hitting him ninth is twofold - to be the second leadoff hitter in a sense with a lot less pressure, and the potential to see better pitches because the 1-2-3 (batters) are hitting behind you," Maddon said. "That's where people are failing to think this all the way through. They just see the pitcher hitting eighth and are saying, 'Oh my God, bat the pitcher ninth' because it's been like that for the past 150 years."

Feeling homer happy:

Kris Bryant insisted he wasn't worried about hitting his first major-league home run, which came Saturday night after three weeks and one day in the big leagues. But he said it felt good nevertheless.

"It's definitely a confidence builder to get the first one out of the way," he said. "Spring-training homers don't count so it's cool to get the first one out of the way."

Bryant has the ball from the homer, and he said he'd keep it someplace in his home.

"Those are always special, the first hit," he said. "It's cool. I broke my bat on my first hit so I'm going to keep my bat, too."

He added that it was nice that his first homer came the night before Mother's Day.

"She was proud of me," he said of his mom. "She's always happy. Even if I go 0-for-4, she's very supportive. Being that it's this close to Mother's Day it's pretty special."