SS Javy Baez (heel) returns to Cubs’ lineup Wednesday in powerful form

After his night of one-pitch wonderment, Cubs shortstop Javy Baez returned to the lineup Wednesday for the first time since leaving the game Sunday because of a bruised right heel.

He said he tried to play “smart” to keep from aggravating the bruise and “felt fine” during an 8-4 victory over the Phillies in which he drew a walk, hit a long home run and handled five balls hit to him without issue.

“Hopefully, it feels better [Thursday],” he said.

Baez came off the bench with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning Tuesday to drive the first pitch he saw into right field for a walk-off hit in his first action since the injury. He said he thought for a split-second about not running and waiting at the plate for teammates to celebrate (the winning run would have scored regardless of a force out at first).

“But you can’t disrespect the other team,” said Baez, who spoke Wednesday about the sequence for the first time because he wasn’t in the clubhouse to talk Tuesday. “We’ve got to play the game right.”

He said he only got dressed to play in the ninth, trailing by a run, even as one coach shooed him from the batting cage and a trainer insisted he get his foot taped up before swinging a bat.

“I told [Pedro Strop] I was going to end the game, and he didn’t believe me,” Baez said. “And then everything happened, and Stropy told me, ‘I thought I saw everything in baseball, but I never seen this.’

“It was a great moment.”

Mix and mash?

Maddon said the reports on Phillies lefty starter Cole Irvin — a rookie making his third start — looked favorable for lefty slugger Kyle Schwarber, so he kept his new leadoff man right where he’d been since Thursday.

Schwarber lined a double off the basket in right field leading off the first, missing a home run by inches. He also singled leading off the third and scored.

“Overall, I still like what he’s doing at the plate, and if it’s a lefty that he’s amenable to, I’d rather just do it this way,” Maddon said. “And if he’s not, then just don’t play him.”

That’s when Albert Almora Jr. could return to the leadoff role for a start or two. Maddon also said he likes Almora’s contact bat just behind the top five in the order — with 2-through-4 taking .362 or better on-base percentages into the game.

The Strop dope

Right-hander Strop, the Cubs’ de facto closer this year with Brandon Morrow (elbow) out, threw a second 25-pitch bullpen session on his way back from a hamstring injury.

The Cubs say the session went especially well, and Strop is expected to throw another bullpen during the weekend series against the Reds.

Afterward, a decision could be made on where to have him make a brief minor-league rehab assignment.

Reliever roulette

Before the game, the Cubs put left-hander Xavier Cedeno on the 10-day injured list because of left wrist inflammation, the same injury that wiped out his spring training. He allowed four hits and three walks in five appearances (two innings).

Right-hander Rowan Wick, who made his 10-game big-league debut with the Padres last year, was recalled from Class AAA Iowa to join the Cubs’ pen.

This and that

Adbert Alzolay, the Cubs’ top pitching prospect until a series of injuries and setbacks over the past year, pitched a gem for five innings for Class AAA Iowa in his third start back Wednesday: three hits, one run, five strikeouts, no walks, 65 pitches.

• A few days after the Cubs claimed struggling minor-league right-hander Chandler Shepherd off waivers, they were unable to slip him through waivers and off the 40-man roster – the Orioles claiming Shepherd Wednesday.
• Cubs starter Cole Hamels on Wednesday became the 24^th active pitcher to make starts against all 30 big-league teams when he faced his former Phillies team for the first time. The last pitcher to accomplish that? Jake Arrieta for the Phillies, against the Cubs on Monday.