Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez ejected against Cubs

The 25-year-old gave up five runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox but escaped with a no-decision when the Cubs rallied to win.

Arrieta earned his 15th win by getting 18 outs – seven strikeouts, zero flyballs and groundball after groundball – while allowing only four singles and one walk to lower his ERA to 2.30. Chris Coghlan of the Cubs had a 2-0 count with runners on first and second when plate umpire Doug Eddings raised his hand twice toward the dugout. “They just hit good pitches”.

The Cubs actually had a chance to get back in this game after falling behind 7-0. Rizzo made it 4-0 when he drove the next pitch just inside the right-field foul pole for his 24th homer. Al Alburquerque then entered and got Soler to pop up to end the inning.

Russell singled and scored in the third and added a solo homer in the fourth to make it 5-0. That left the Cubs four games behind the Pirates for the first wild-card spot and still in a playoff position, four games ahead of the Giants. It was Rizzo’s first homer in almost a week.

“I got ejected for balls and strikes, that’s it”, Gonzalez said.

That explains why manager Joe Maddon wanted to be cautious during Thursday’s 7-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves – and why Arrieta sounded a little annoyed afterward in the interview room/dungeon. “I see Folty out there getting after it, and he got a little frustrated”. That isn’t entirely fair, though the performance was bad; I usually say that booing the hometown players ought to be reserved for times of perceived lack of effort, which this was not. It wasn’t anything insane like that.

Despite the Braves’ road struggles, Nick Markakis had three hits with two RBIs on Wednesday and ranks among the major league leaders with a. 324 batting average away from home. “And then we’ll move on to come back on Tuesday’s game”. The last Cubs pitcher to go on a longer run than that was future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, who put together 14 quality starts in a row in 1992, the first of his four straight Cy Young seasons (and only one in Chicago before jumping to Atlanta). Atlanta RHP Shelby Miller (5-9, 2.43 ERA) goes against Chicago RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-5, 3.97) on Friday in the second game of the series…. The Cubs are 49-10 this season when scoring first but 15-38 when being outhit by an opponent…. With 10 homers, Schwarber already is tied for seventh among National League rookies despite having played in far fewer (36) games.