CHICAGO -- His hitting streak ended more than a week ago, but Dan Uggla's bat hasn't cooled.
Uggla hit his 30th home run to extend his own long-ball record and help the Braves and Jair Jurrjens beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0 on Monday night in a series opener at Wrigley Field.
Uggla made this his fifth season with at least 30 homers, two more seasons than any other second baseman in major league history. His first four came with the Florida Marlins.
“It’s kind of crazy. Who’d have thought, right?" Uggla said of his fraternity of one second baseman with that many 30-homer seasons. "It’s the fastest I’ve ever gotten to 30. But I’ve been saying all year long, that’s why you play the full season. That’s why you keep working, stay positive, because you never know what can happen."
Uggla was hitting a National League-worst .173 on July 4 before reeling off an Atlanta Braves-record 33-game hitting streak. The streak ended Aug. 14 against the Cubs when second baseman Darwin Barney made a diving catch on Uggla's bloop near the right-field line.
"I guess that’s where I’ve got to hit them against this team," Uggla said of his homer,the fifth this season to land on Waveland Avenue beyond Wrigley's left-field bleachers. "If I keep hitting them in the park, Barney’s going to catch it and get me out somewhere. So I think I’ll try to hit it where they can’t catch ‘em.”
Freddie Freeman added his 18th homer for the Braves, who’ve won five in a row and 14 in their past 18 games to push their wild-card lead to 8-1/2 games over San Francisco. They’ve won seven of eight since dropping back-to-back games against the Cubs in Atlanta Aug. 13-14.
Jurrjens (13-5) was an escape artist, allowing eight hits and five walks but no runs in 6-1/3 innings, his second start since a stint on the disabled list for a strained right knee.
Jonny Venters walked the first two batters in the ninth before getting two strikeouts and a groundout for his fifth save. Manager Fredi Gonzalez opted to rest closer Craig Kimbrel, who had converted saves in four of the previous six games and threw 25 pitches Sunday.
“That’s not the way you draw it up, but Jonny’s got that composure that he can get out of that jam," Gonzalez said of Venters, who struck out Carlos Pena and Marlon Byrd before Alfonso Soriano grounded out. “We escaped a lot of jams today. They got on base a lot and we were able to make the pitches we had to.”
Hot-hitting Braves rookie Jose Constanza left the game with a slight right ankle sprain after stepping on the side of first base while beating out an infield single in the sixth inning. He went 2-for-3 and has a .372 average in his first 23 big-league games.
Gonzalez said he hoped the speedy Constanza would miss only a game or two, "because he makes some stuff happen."
Before Monday, Jurrjens had been 0-2 with a 6.52 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break, after going 12-3 with a 1.87 ERA in 16 before the break. His fastball was a relatively pedestrian 86-88 mph most of the game, but Jurrjens made well-located pitches when he needed them most.
"Better command and a big improvement on the changeup," Jurrjens said, comparing Monday's game to his Wednesday loss against San Francisco, when he gave up five runs in six innings.
"That’s what I was talking to Eddie [Perez, bullpen coach] about, how if I have my changeup it makes the game a little easier for me. That’s my go-to pitch that I got out of most of my jams with, just hitting my spots. It’s improvement from the last one.”
Freeman staked Jurrjens to a 1-0 lead with a one-out homer in the second inning, teeing off on a first-pitch slider from Cubs starter Ryan Dempster (10-8).
Constanza’s speed helped add a run in the third. He singled to start the inning, stole second then raced to third to beat a throw on a Jurrjens sacrifice bunt. Martin Prado’s grounder scored Constanza.
Uggla pushed the lead to 3-0 with a towering homer in the sixth inning. He's the first 30-homer hitter for the Braves since 2006, when Andruw Jones had 41 and Adam LaRoche had 32. Chipper Jones had 29 in 2007, and Brian McCann led the Braves in homers the past three seasons with 23, 21 and 21.
In his past 42 games, Uggla has hit .348 with 18 homers and 37 RBIs.
"That’s a tremendous feat to do that," Gonzalez said of Uggla's fifth 30-homer season, most of which Gonzalez saw while managing the Marlins for 3-1/2 seasons until June 2010. "Good for him. That’s what he came here to do, and he’s done it…. Tremendous.”
The Cubs left at least two runners on base in five of the six full innings that Jurrjens pitched, and 12 in all against him.
They loaded the bases with one out in the first inning before Marlon Byrd grounded into a double play. They stranded two in the third inning when Carlos Pena struck out, the only strikeout of the game for Jurrjens.
The Cubs had three consecutive two-out singles to load the bases again in the fifth, but Alfonso Soriano flied out to shallow right and was roundly booed by the Wrigley denizens.
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