Elder hit hard as Cubs top Braves
CHICAGO — Dansby Swanson homered against his former team in a five-run first inning, and the Chicago Cubs used their bullpen to stave off the major league-leading Atlanta Braves in a rain-soaked 8-6 win Saturday afternoon.
Jeimer Candelario hit his first home run since being reacquired by the Cubs, and Ian Happ also went deep.
Chicago (57-54) went into the game leading the majors in runs since Major League Baseball’s All-Star break and bounced back after getting shut out by Atlanta on Friday, 8-0, in the series opener at Wrigley Field. The Cubs began the day 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central Division standings and two games out of a wild-card spot.
Chicago opened a 5-0 lead early and never looked back. After an error by first baseman Matt Olson allowed two runs to score, Swanson homered off All-Star right-hander Bryce Elder (8-3) to make it 4-0. Swanson went 0-for-3 on Friday, his first game against Atlanta since signing with the Cubs in the offseason.
“They have a complete lineup,” said Swanson, who has 17 homers this season, his second straight as an All-Star shortstop. “They definitely grind you out until the end. Obviously, I saw it for years. They make you earn 27 outs, and today I felt like we fought hard. Pitchers did a great job navigating through that lineup, which is not easy. But it was definitely a good one for us today.”
Elder went 4 1/3 innings and allowed seven runs (five earned) on seven hits.
Atlanta (70-38) scored twice in the sixth inning after reliever Daniel Palencia walked three straight batters to load the bases. Mark Leiter Jr. struck out Austin Riley to preserve the Cubs’ 7-4 lead. Olson narrowed the gap with a two-run homer off Adbert Alzolay in the ninth before Travis d’Arnaud grounded out to end the game.
The Braves went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
“It was the total package,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of his team’s mistakes. “We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times.”
Atlanta entered the day with a 12 1/2-game lead over the second-place Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East, where the Braves are five-time reigning champions.
Chicago’s Candelario hit a solo homer in the first and went 2-for-4 with two runs. It was his 17th homer of the year and first with the Cubs this season after he was reacquired from the Washington Nationals before the trade deadline earlier this week.
Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna was ejected in the top of the fourth after striking out looking against Cubs starter Javier Assad.
“I said (that’s not a strike) two times, and he threw me out for no reason,” Ozuna said.
Orlando Arcia hit a sacrifice fly in the second and Ozzie Albies launched his 25th home run of the season in the third for the Braves. Ronald Acuña Jr. went 3-for-5 with an RBI, raising his average to .341 with his second straight three-hit game.
Chicago’s Cody Bellinger went 2-for-3 with an RBI and scored twice, while Nick Madrigal and Christopher Morel each had an RBI single for the Cubs. Happ hit his 13th homer of the season in the seventh.
Michael Fulmer (3-5) replaced Assad in the fourth and worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Assad, who usually comes out of the bullpen, was making just his second start of the season.
“It’s a nice win and it’s a good team over there, but we have a long way to go,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “I thought in circumstances with Assad being short and the conditions being awful, to come out and put up some offense on the board … it was a grinder.”
The scheculed starting pitchers for Sunday’s series finale are Atlanta right-hander Charlie Morton (10-9, 3.62 ERA) and Chicago lefty Justin Steele (12-3, 2.65), an All-Star looking for his fourth straight win.