Yastrzemski’s three RBIs lead Braves to win over Cubs

Mike Yastrzemski drove in three, including two on his first homer of the season as part of a four-run fifth, and the Braves beat the Cubs 5-2 in the opener of a three-game series at Truist Park.

Yastrzemski, one of Atlanta’s key offseason acquisitions, had gone 116 at-bats in 38-plus games before connecting on his first long ball. It came on a 3-2 slider from Cubs starter Colin Rea and went 380 feet in the other direction out to right and landed in the seats in front of the Chop House.

The home run made Yastrzemski 5-for-10 lifetime with three homers off Rea.

“Swing has been feeling really good lately,” the Braves’ outfielder said. “It’s more about mentality at the plate, and felt like today, after a nice off day, could come in fresh and just be ready to go.”

The Braves (29-13) trailed 2-1 before the four-run fifth. The win improved them to 6-1 in series openers at home and 14-3 when they hit at least two home runs in a game.

Dylan Lee’s 1-2-3 eighth inning and Raisel Iglesias’ perfect ninth, for his seventh save in as many tries this season, improved the Braves to 24-0 when leading after eight innings.

Yastrzemski gave the Braves a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the third, a line drive left of center that scored Dominic Smith, who went 4-for-4 with four singles for his first four-hit game since 2022, from second.

The Braves improved to 18-7 this season when scoring first.

“It honestly feels like there’s no pressure because all you have to do is have a good at bat, move it on to the next guy,” Yastrzemski said about the Braves’ offense. “We’ve got such a deep lineup that there’s a ton of trust and so that makes things a lot easier where you don’t feel like you have to be the hero every day, you don’t feel like you have to score four runs with one swing. You can move it on to the next guy and know that there’s a good at-bat coming behind you.”

Alex Bregman got the Cubs (27-15) on the board in the fourth inning by jumping on a 3-2 fastball and sending it over the wall in left field. That immediately rattled starter Grant Holmes who subsequently walked the bases loaded and gave up the lead on Moisés Ballesteros’ fielder’s choice.

Holmes left after four innings in which he allowed two earned runs. Holmes only gave up a single hit but walked four. The right-hander threw 78 pitches in his first start and appearance since May 1.

“Just feel like it’s that one inning every time,” Holmes said. “I feel like it’s a it’s a mental thing that I need to straighten out. Other than that, made a really good pitch to Bregman and he put a good bat on it. Can’t do anything with that.”