The Morning Chop, Box Score, Gwinnett Braves — Atlanta Braves News

“At the end of the day we played good baseball, but not great”.

Rizzo’s 25th home run of the season gave the Cubs a 3-2 lead in the third.

Maddon thought Fowler rattled the rookie with his leadoff home run.

“I felt a big improvement, honestly”.

Friday wasn’t exactly an ugly start from Hendricks, but it wasn’t a gem, either, the kind of efforts this rotation was turning in on a regular basis earlier in the season. They allowed 12 in four games against the Chicago Cubs. 357 in his last eight games.

Hammel’s solid start was also encouraging – after being knocked around in his previous start and being angered by quick hooks in the two before that.

Wind wasn’t the only good fortune going for Montero as he put Chicago up 8-7 with his homer. “It was definitely a good victory and we have to keep riding it”. It’s really hard to come back from that. Montero then pounced on the first pitch he saw with a double off the center-field wall to knock in the go-ahead run.

Fowler took the 1-0 pitch from Wisler and deposited it in the left-field bleachers for a 1-0 lead. It was his 21st multi-homer game. Rondon his 23rd save of the season with a scoreless ninth.

That was it for Foltynewicz, replaced by left-hander Andrew McKirahan. In the second, Kyle Schwarber hit a solo homer with two outs to make it 4-0.

“People have seen you now, (so) you gotta go out there and can’t get away with mistakes”.

“If you don’t look at the numbers, I think I threw the ball OK”, he said.

Even a 7-3 lead and a two-homer game from Nick Swisher weren’t enough for the Braves to stop the madness that their road woes have become.

Cubs: 3B Kris Bryant left the game in the sixth.

Haren pitched just 4 1-3 innings in his fourth start with the Cubs since being acquired at the non-waiver trade deadline from Miami.

Hamel faced one batter in the seventh and departed in favor of left-handed reliever Clayton Richard after pinch hitter Eury Perez lined out to second. Nick Markakis leads Atlanta with 140 hits and 46 RBI while Cameron Maybin and Andrelton Simmons have combined for 84 RBI.

“First inning, little bit sketchy, but he did settle into that”, Joe Maddon said. “I don’t know”.

Shortstop Addison Russell and first baseman Anthony Rizzo also homered for the Cubs, who have won 18 of 22 overall and three straight against the Braves. It was the 14th time in his career that Swisher had homered from both sides of the plate in the same guying tying him with Mark Teixeira for the most all-time.

The game was briefly delayed in the first inning after Schwarber’s foul liner hit a female fan sitting just past the camera well on the first base side.

That’s when the Cubs bullpen went to work. Daniel Castro had three hits and three RBIs as G-Braves banged out 16 hits.

Cubs starter Dan Haren allowed four runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings.