Montero, bullpen lead Cubs to 5-3 win over Braves

Even after taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning in his last turn against Arizona, Miller ended up with a no-decision in a 2-1 victory.

The Braves had just one early baserunner and saw manager Fredi Gonzalez ejected in the third, apparently for arguing balls and strikes. “That was basically the game”.

Joe Maddon is a glass-half-full kind of guy – especially if that glass contains a postgame adult beverage – so it isn’t surprising the Chicago Cubs manager was upbeat about the performance of starter Kyle Hendricks on Friday. Currently, the Cubs have won 15 of its last 17 games, jumping the team into the fourth spot in MLB’s most recent power rankings.

“That was huge, that was absolutely necessary right there to get out of that with only one run”, Maddon said. It was Rizzo’s first homer in almost a week. I thought it was really quick thinking. “I liked it”.

Coghlan had a 2-0 count when plate umpire Doug Eddings raised his hand twice toward the Atlanta dugout. In his 25 starts for the Braves this season, he has gotten 3+ runs to work with a grand total of 9 times.

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. Miller would get out the jam by inducing an inning ending double play, that at the time kept the Braves lead intact.

Jon Lester gave up seven runs on three homers in 2 2-3 innings of Wednesday’s 15-8 loss to Detroit.

Rizzo walked to open the sixth and the game abruptly turned on Miller’s next two pitches. Anthony Rizzo walked with one out and scored when Kris Bryant doubled into the left-field corner.

The Braves are 20-49 in games where they allow one or more home runs.

Former Cub play-by-play man, Skip Caray, was shown standing with a big smile on his face while his grandfather, Harry, did his thing on the video board in left field.

Pinch hitter Starlin Castro reached on an error and Rizzo sliced a two-out single to right to score Russell for a 5-3 lead. The 34-year-old has managed to avoid disaster, but he hasn’t made it through more than 5 1/3 innings in any of those three outings and has surrendered six home runs. After back-to-back RBI doubles by Kris Bryant and Miguel Montero, all of a sudden the Cub led 4-3 and Shelby was out of the game, extending his winless streak to 17 games.

NOTES: Cuban prospect 3B Hector Olivera reportedly will make his major league debut with Atlanta as early as next week. Haren, acquired on July 31 from Miami, makes his fourth Cubs start…. He left trailing, but the Cubs rallied late behind a strong bullpen effort and an opportunistic offense for a 5-3 comeback win over the Atlanta Braves.