Maddon: No more experiments this year for the Cubs

The window for experimentation is closed for the season, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said before Wednesday's game against Arizona at Wrigley Field.

Asked how he intends to balance further development of his young players down the stretch against fielding the best possible lineup, Maddon said the Cubs have reached the point in the season where the need to win ballgames supersedes further experimentation.

"You can't really worry about that as much right now," Maddon said of development. "I think we're at that point. So you may see us do some things a little differently, some different patterns possibly just based on that thought.

"I think winning groups, winning teams, teams that are together, guys that get it, get it. They're not really concerned about 'Well, I got hit for tonight or somebody took me out when I thought I could get that guy out,' all that crazy talk that only ends up causing you a loss."

Relaxed and regrouped:

Kyle Schwarber said missing the All-Star Game was probably "a good thing" for Cubs position players.

"They kind of got to step away and be able to just kind of relax," Schwarber said before Wednesday's game. "We didn't get much of a break in the off-season winning the World Series, which we wouldn't have any other way.

"But to be able to have those couple of days to step back, refocus and come here and worry about winning ballgames, we were really fortunate with where the division was at the time. Now, we just want to kind of just take off and run with it."

Making contact:

Joe Maddon said he was pleased to see his team limit its strikeout total to 6 in Tuesday's 16-4 win over Arizona in the wake of 19 strikeouts over the final two games of the Milwaukee series.

"The last couple of games have been better," Maddon said. "That just takes time. It's always going to be the product of the starting pitcher also, how good that guy is, if he's got something that really is chaseable that we just can't lay off of. (Tuesday) I thought we did a really nice job of staying within ourselves, moving the baseball with two strikes. We drove in some runs with hits and not just homers, which was nice to see."

• Follow Jerry on Twitter at @jerfitzpatrick.