Cubs have ways to deal with defensive shifts

The Cubs' Anthony Rizzo tried to bunt to the left side Saturday as the San Diego Padres shifted their infield defense to the right against him. He had 1 single to left field and later fought off a pitch and singled to the left side of the infield.

With a shift on Friday, Cubs baserunner Jonathan Herrera took his leadoff halfway to home plate while he was on third base.

There has been a lot of attention paid to shifts in baseball during the last couple of years. Like anything else, if a team overcompensates in one area, it leaves an opening for the other team in another.

All the Cubs were trying to do in these cases was exploit them. Herrera wound up scoring on a wild pitch.

"From a defensive perspective, I don't like to give a runner that much space," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "If people are going to give us that space, under those circumstances, if the ball is even 10 feet away from the catcher, you're going to have a chance to score. That one went all the way back to the wall, and that helped us as lot. That was a big play.

"That's the nuance of what's going on. I use that word a lot regarding defense - nuance. Everything is not cut and dried out there. It's up to the individual groups to make your little adjustments based on what they're seeing, what they think is important."

Maddon added that he is not in favor of outlawing defensive shifts, as has been suggested by some.

"Of course not," he said. "No. I think it's just an organic moment right now, meaning that hitters are going to learn how to adjust to this, primarily through development in the minor leagues. It's hard to get major-league hitters to do something entirely different as they have been doing.

"People don't understand that to adjust here is very hard. To make the adjustments, you have to start down in the minor leagues."

As for Rizzo in Saturday's 7-6 victory over the Padres, Maddon said: "How do you beat the shift? By being a baseball player."

Bad break for Olt:

Third baseman Mike Olt showed up Saturday sporting a long cast on his right arm. Olt went on the disabled list Friday with a hairline fracture of his right wrist, the result of being hit with a pitch last weekend in Colorado.

"It wasn't fun," said Olt, who played in two games after being hit. "It could be a lot worse. Nothing structurally wrong with ligaments or anything like that. I'll take that."

Olt will be in a cast 3-4 weeks and then head out on a rehab assignment. What happens after that remains to be seen, what with rookie phenom Kris Bryant up and playing third base.