Extra bases
• Scott Baker will make his first Major League start since Aug. 8, 2011, on Sunday when he takes the mound in the Cubs' series finale against the Brewers.
"He's built up pretty good," Sveum said of the right-hander, who has been sidelined since undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in April 2012. "I'm not going to put a limit on [Sunday's game]. He's obviously not going to go over 100 pitches. We'll see how things go. We have plenty of guys in the bullpen. It's not a necessity to do anything but evaluate and let him pitch."
• Dae-Eun Rhee gave up five runs (two earned) on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings in Double-A Tennessee's 7-1 loss to Birmingham in Game 2 of the Southern League playoffs on Friday. John Andreoli hit a RBI double. The Smokies trail, 2-0, in the series.
Game 3 of the best-of-five series will be Saturday. Eric Jokisch was scheduled to start.
Class A Daytona will face Charlotte on Saturday at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in the second game of the Florida State League championship series. Friday's game was postponed because of rain. The Cubs lead the best-of-five series, 1-0. Ivan Pineyro was scheduled to start for Daytona.
Dillon Maples struck out seven over 6 1/3 scoreless innings in Boise's 5-0 win over Vancouver in the first game of the Northwest League championship. The Hawks can clinch their seventh NWL pennant on Sunday with a win. Lance Rymel hit a solo home run and David Bote hit a two-run double.
• Ryan Sweeney will get a good look in September so the Cubs can gauge what to do next season with the outfielder.
"He's pretty savvy, he knows what's going on," Sveum said. "He's a quality left-handed bat, has the ability to hit home runs. You give him 500, 700 plate appearances that he's never gotten before, I think you could project that to be a pretty good year."
Sweeney missed time after injuring his ribs when he crashed into the outfield wall in Seattle.
"He's got an ability in center field to make things look easy," Sveum said. "You don't want to put anybody in a Jim Edmonds category, but he makes it look easy like Jim Edmonds did without a great deal of speed."
• Kevin Gregg picked up his 30th save on Friday. He is the 11th Cubs pitcher to reach that mark in a season and the first since Carlos Marmol had 34 in 2011.