After the Braves played perhaps their best game of the season to beat the Cubs on Friday, the visitors unleashed the full fury of the best team in baseball.
The Cubs routed the Braves 13-2 on Sunday to win the final two games of the series and improve their majors-best record to 43-18. The Braves (18-44) have lost eight of their last 10 games and have the franchise’s record after 62 games since the 1911 Boston Rustlers were 14-48.
The Braves won the series opener 5-1 with timely hitting against Jason Hammel, sharp defense and a strong outing from right-hander Bud Norris. Then the Cubs hit four home runs during an 8-2 victory behind ace Jake Arrieta on Saturday and beat up the Braves’ bullpen for 10 runs on Sunday in support of tough left-hander Jon Lester.
By the end of the finale, the many Cubs fans who invaded Turner Field turned the place into a party.
“It’s not fun in your own ballpark,” Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur said. “Anybody that is somewhat of a Cubs fan I’m sure is jumping in the bandwagon right now. I’m kind of wondering where they were five years ago when they came to Turner Field. It is what it is. They are playing well. Good for them.”
Lester (8-3) overcame four Cubs errors and didn’t allow an earned run over seven innings while striking out seven batters and walking none. After the Braves tied the game on catcher David Ross’ throwing error in the first inning, they got just three hits over the next six innings against Lester.
The Cubs improved to 14-4 since losing three in a row May 21-23.
“It’s almost like you’ve got to keep the game manageable and not give them any cushion at all,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. “There’s a reason why they have that record. You’ve got to go out and do what we like what did Friday night and pretty much shut them down because you are not going to score many runs against those guys.”
Braves spot starter John Gant (0-1) allowed four hits and three runs (two earned) over 4 1/3 innings with four walks and five strikeouts. The Braves gave him the start after deciding to push back Aaron Blair’s turn so that Blair and Julio Teheran can get an extra day of rest.
The Cubs led 3-1 when Gant left the game. The Cubs took a 4-1 lead on catcher David Ross’ RBI single against Casey Kelly and then batted around in the seventh and eight innings.
Ex-Braves outfielder Jason Heyward’s one-out double against Kelly started Chicago’s big seventh inning. Kelly walked Kris Bryant before Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI single and Ben Zobrist doubled to score another run. After Kelly intentionally walked Chris Coghlan, Alexi Ogando replaced him and walked Ross with the bases loaded and two outs to score another run.
The Cubs piled on against right-hander Chris Withrow in the eighth with three consecutive RBI singles and Javier Baez’s three-run homer. The Cubs pounded out 16 hits after they had 13 on Saturday.
“There’s a reason they’ve won 43 games at this point,” Francoeur said. “They are a great team. We got the first night’s game but we knew we were going to have our hands full yesterday and today. We were in this game and then it just kind of got out of hand.”
The Braves now will face the Reds during a four-game series starting Monday at Turner Field. The Reds (24-39) are last in the NL Central but are 9-6 since losing a season-high 11 games in a row.
Snitker said that “short of Knute Rockne or someone else coming in” there’s no speech that could get the Braves going.
“We’ve got to flush this one, push reset and try to take the next series,” he said. “That’s the only thing we can do. These are grown men and professionals.”
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