Arrieta picks up 15th win, Cubs pound Braves 7-1

Chicago had home runs from their top three spots in the batting order (Dexter Fowler, Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant) for the first time in 11 seasons during Wednesday’s 15-8 loss to Detroit…. Gonzalez came out to argue and kicked dirt on the plate. “We didn’t really make a lot of errors to beat ourselves, they just outplayed us these four games”. The majors’ lowest-scoring team has averaged 2.4 runs while dropping 25 of their last 30 on the road, where its 44 losses are tied for the most in baseball.

Mike Foltynewicz (4-5) gave up a career-high seven runs and eight hits over 4 2/3 innings.

“If you don’t look at the numbers, I think I threw the ball OK”, he said. “Even when I had a good outing, it just happened that my hand position was good that day”.

The Cubs snapped a three-game losing streak after winning nine straight and 15 of 16, with Arrieta (15-6) dominating on the mound and Rizzo and Russell supplying the power at the plate. Russell extended the lead to 5-0 in the fourth, launching a 1-0 pitch to the left field bleachers for his eighth homer of the year.The Braves threatened as second baseman Jace Peterson singled to open the fifth, stole second and landed at third with one out after an Arrieta wild pitch. Chris Coghlan contributed an RBI single and a run-scoring triple and scored twice. He allowed four hits, struck out seven and walked one while throwing 107 pitches, 75 for strikes.

“He’s been around so I don’t have a great a concern but I want to keep an eye on it”. “Regardless of how they feel right now, you’ve got to make those decisions”.

Rondon did not panic, as he promptly struck out the side to record his 19th save, and preserve the Cubs’ tenth win in their last eleven games.

Braves: 3B prospect Hector Olivera (left hamstring), now at Triple-A Gwinnett, could join the Braves as early as Monday, Gonzalez said.

One of the reasons for the 3:05 Friday starts is that the Cubs are prohibited by ordinance from playing Friday night games. The Cubs said he was not injured.

Miller entered with a 15-game winless streak.

However, he’s 0-8 with a 3.03 ERA in 16 starts since coming one out away from no-hitting Miami in a 6-0 victory May 17.