DeJesus gets first start at cleanup spot in order

ST. LOUIS -- For the first time in his career, David DeJesus was batting cleanup, and the Cubs outfielder initially didn't believe it.

"[Manager Dale Sveum] had a lineup up, and then I was getting a massage, and someone said, 'Hey, you're batting fourth,' and I'm like, 'Yeah, right, ha, ha,'" DeJesus said before the game. "And he's like, 'No, wait, I'm serious.' I'm like, 'All right, cool.'

"Now I've hit in every spot in my career," he said. "That was a nice little way to finish it. [Anthony] Rizzo will get a lot of fastballs and I'll just protect him."

DeJesus' cleanup debut was hardly anything special -- he finished 0-for-3 with two strikeouts -- but Rizzo did contribute a two-run single.

Alfonso Soriano has the most at-bats in the No. 4 spot for the Cubs, but after he was traded to the Yankees, Sveum has had to mix and match. He's also used Rizzo; Nate Schierholtz, who got Friday off; Starlin Castro ; Dioner Navarro, Welington Castillo and Cody Ransom. Luis Valbuena and Ryan Sweeney also have batted fourth, but both are on the disabled list.

"The lineup, obviously, right now is something you have to piece together day to day," Sveum said.

Told that it's the first time in DeJesus' career that he's batting fourth, Sveum said, "I figured it was."

DeJesus and Schierholtz have been the most productive with runners in scoring position on the Cubs. Sveum didn't expect DeJesus to change his approach.

"The one thing about hitting is you have people who don't really care and it doesn't really matter," Sveum said of the lineup. "You're going to hit the way you hit, and hopefully that's the way everybody stays, no matter where you put them in the lineup. You're only the fourth hitter only once and the leadoff hitter only once. After that, you could be anything."