Slumping Baez given night off vs. Brewers
Shortstop Javy Baez was not in Friday's starting lineup. This is another effort to try to cure his season-long hitting slump.
Baez, a career .265 hitter, was batting .196 heading into Friday's action and leads the National League with 60 strikeouts. Even when the Cubs offense broke loose in Thursday's win over the Reds, Baez went 0-for-5 with 3 strikeouts.
"It's really tough sometimes when you come to work every day and you put in the work and you are focused and you're trying your hardest and you're just not getting results," Cubs manager David Ross said. "That's really tough. I just wanted to give him a breather mentally. I just think mentally he needed a day.
"Caught him in my office yesterday and talked after the game a little bit. He was fine with it. I trust him. We're still going to need him, still going to lean on him. But it's just one of those things I got to thinking about the many times I struggled in my career and how sometimes you can just spiral mentally and I just wanted to give him a breather. That's all."
The Cubs started Nico Hoerner at shortstop and David Bote at second base against the Brewers. Ross said veteran Jason Kipnis is dealing with an undisclosed injury, but should be back soon.