Cubs' Maddon likes how Baez is seeing the ball

Javier Baez was back in the Chicago Cubs' lineup for the third straight night Wednesday after he sat at the start of the final two games at Boston over the weekend.

Baez went 4-for-4 with a homer, a triple and 2 singles Tuesday night in an 8-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. He did his damage out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup. According to the Cubs, Baez became the first Cubs player with 4 hits out of the ninth spot at Wrigley Field since pitcher Don Cardwell on June 30, 1960 against the Braves.

What manager Joe Maddon liked was Baez going to right field or right-center, the opposite field, for all of the hits except the home run.

"I keep telling us that he's seeing the ball well, which I do like," Maddon said. "The difference was 3 of those hits yesterday were middle-opposite. That's what I like. Home runs are nice. He hit a hanging curveball, first pitch, gone. Absolutely, if his confidence is better, you're going to see more of that, no doubt about it. I still want to see him accept a couple walks. I still want him to not to expand his strike zone. That's the next level.

"His confidence, you could see it in his face last night, he's playing with that animation again. I liked it."

Baez almost always swings hard. He entered Wednesday with 21 strikeouts in 67 at-bats.

"It depends on the situation," he said. "I always swing hard. Sometimes when I look under control, it looks pretty simple, but I always to try to swing hard."

Baez is only 24, so where it goes from here is anyone's guess.

"I don't think it's going to be revealed to us for another couple of years," Maddon said. "I think it's very high. You're still going to see him go through these kind of moments up and down. The difference with him is even during the down moments offensively, he can still help you win with his defense and his baserunning.

"So I fully anticipate to see those offensive swings, up and down. But the reward's going to be great. When he really figures it out, the reward is going to show, and it's going to be outstanding to watch."

Reaching milestones:

Kyle Schwarber hit his 20th career homer Tuesday, and Kris Bryant hit his 70th. Since making his major-league debut on April 17, 2015, Bryant's 70 homers are third most in the National League, behind Colorado's Nolan Arenado (87) and Washington's Bryce Harper (73).

Schwarber reached 20 homers in the fewest career games (97) of any Cubs player since 1913. His 3-run homer in Tuesday's fourth inning proved to be the decisive hit in the game.

"That's cool, man," Schwarber said of reaching 20 that quickly. "I guess it's an accomplishment. But I still want to focus on this year. I still want to focus on having good at-bats. I want to focus on winning. I want to focus on getting back to where we want to be, which is being the last team standing at the end of the year."