Mauricio Dubón hit a two-run homer as part of a three-run eighth inning, and the Braves won yet again, beating the Cubs 4-1 at Truist Park on Wednesday to match the franchise’s best start since 2003.
The Braves have won four in a row and go for a sweep of the three-game series Thursday night.
In a 1-1 game in the bottom of the eighth Wednesday, Cubs starter Shota Imanaga (4-3) was still working on perhaps his best start of the season when Michael Harris II, on his bobblehead night, broke his bat on a slow roller to second leading off the eighth. Nico Hoerner tried to flip the ball to first with his glove, but the ball sailed over first baseman Michael Busch, allowing Harris to reach.
The Cubs (27-16) went to the bullpen to get right-hander Phil Maton, and he served up a solid single to left to Ha-Seong Kim. It was Kim’s first hit of the season after returning from the injured list Tuesday.
Maton got pinch-hitter Dominic Smith to wave at a third strike but couldn’t get Mike Yastrzemski, also pinch-hitting, who doubled to right to score Harris. Kim was thrown out at the plate on the play trying to score from first.
“I think pinch-hitting is obviously tough. I think it’s one of the toughest things in the game, but you gotta believe in the process, believe in yourself, believe in your teammates and try and show that your manager made the right choice,” Yastrzemski said. “Tonight worked out. Super happy, really excited about that and will just try to keep building on that.”
In stepped Dubón, and he turned on a 1-1 curveball and drove into the visitors’ bullpen in left, making it 4-1 on his third home run of the season.
“I played with Maton (with the Astros), so I kind of had an idea of what he was trying to do,” Dubón said. “Guessed right and put a good swing on it.”
Braves closer Raisel Iglesias pitched a scoreless ninth for his eighth save of the season. The right-hander has now gone 25 1/3 innings dating to last season without allowing a run.
The win made the Braves 12-1-1 in their first 14 series of the season.
“Huge hit by ‘Yaz.’ It’s really good to see him doing what he’s doing the last few nights,” Braves’ manager Walt Weiss said. “And ‘Dubee’ keeps on keeping on. Big homer there. Guys are playing well. It’s been fun to watch.”
Earlier in the night, Drake Baldwin’s 11th home run of the season, a 402-footer that Braves’ bullpen coach J.P. Martinez caught with his hat, gave the Braves a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Baldwin went down and scooped a 2-2 sweeper off the plate and drove it out to right.
That marked the 26th time this season the Braves have scored first on their opponent.
Braves starter JR Ritchie, making his fourth MLB start, ran out of gas in the fifth and was pulled after a lead-off single and one-out walk. Tyler Kinley came in and gave up an RBI single to left to Hoerner before getting out of the inning with no further damage.
Martín Pérez struck out two in a 1-2-3 sixth. Dylan Lee, who hasn’t allowed a run since April 25 and who has only allowed one hit in that span, also struck out two in a perfect seventh.
Robert Suarez (4-0) gave up a two-out single in walk in the eighth before a strikeout ended the inning. That lead to the heroics in the bottom half of the inning.
The Braves are now 25-0 when leading after eight innings.
“The bullpen’s been incredible,” said Ritchie, who threw 87 pitches. “Especially tonight, I didn’t get too deep into the game. There was no complaining or nothing, they just came in and their job. They’ve been incredible all year. They’ve been shutting teams down. It’s really cool to watch.”
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