Cubs blowout Braves in series finale |
ATLANTA - It hasn't always looked pretty, but the Chicago Cubs (25-19) came into Wednesday's game with the Atlanta Braves (26-14) with a chance to salvage the series finale and finish their road trip at .500. That is all you can ask for as an MLB team as playing .500 ball on the road will typically lead to good seasons as long as you take care of business at home.
For the Cubs to come away with a non-losing trip and to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season, they would need to find a way to win at Truist Park, which has been a house of horrors for the Cubs the past several seasons. Not only did they find a way to win, but it was the unsung hero of the Cubs season thus far, Javier Assad, who led the way as the Cubs downed the Braves 7-1. Going back to July 17 of last season, Assad has been the best pitcher in baseball ERA-wise, which is hard to believe when you look at how his games unfold. This isn't a guy who will overpower you by any means, but instead pitches to contact and works around tons of traffic on the bases. Despite being as good as he has been for the better part of a year, Assad has been even better this season, as he's sitting at 4-0 with a 1.49 ERA across his eight starts. “He's able to put balls wherever he wants with everything,” Cubs catcher Yan Gomes said in postgame interviews. “Today, it was mainly his two-seamer. He was able to get guys to swing at it early and get guys to take the back door. Once you start getting those calls out there, you start trying to push the limits as much as you can.” The @Cubs have two starting pitchers in the top 5 in ERA 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bXMeTt9qsO That puts him fourth in all of baseball in ERA, while the Cubs have also won each of his starts on the mound. That continued on Wednesday with Assad pitching arguably the best game of his season by giving the Cubs six scoreless innings on the mound, scattering four hits and striking out seven Atlanta hitters. “He’s pitching at an elite level, really,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell about Assad after the win. “This is just exceptional what he’s doing. He’s off to a wonderful start.” Javi throwin' heat in Atlanta 🔥 It was the kind of performance they would need, especially when the Cubs were about to face another good starter, Charlie Morton. After not scoring a single run in the first two games, the Cubs offense showed signs of life against the veteran right-hander as Morton labored through three innings, allowing four runs (3 ER). Three of the four runs he allowed came in the first inning, with the first one coming off the bat of Mike Tauchman, who led off the game with a solo blast to put the Cubs in front 1-0. With Nico Hoerner out of the lineup nursing a sore hamstring and Ian Happ getting a mental reset, Tauchman could be the leadoff man for the Cubs as he continues to impress. Getting off to a fast start like that was crucial, but the Cubs were just getting started as the Seiya Suzuki double and Cody Bellinger single put runners on the corners with no outs before Christopher Morel made things 2-0 with an RBI forceout. Following a two-out walk to Miles Mastrobuoni and a Nick Madrigal single to load the bases, Morton put himself in an even bigger hole as he hit Pete Crow-Armstrong to force in a run as the Cubs raced out to the early 3-0 lead. It was a lead the Cubs would never give up as they led this game from start to finish, which hasn't been the case too much lately. Not only was the offense off to a fast start, but Assad was also looking strong early as he worked around as second inning double as his only baserunner up to that point. That set things up for the Cubs offense to tack on in the third as another walk and Madrigal single was followed up by an error, and just like that, it was a 4-0 Cubs lead. Morton would finish the inning before being lifted as his day came to an abrupt end. Despite allowing a baserunner in three of the first four innings, Assad was able to escape without any damage, which has been something he has done all season. The same can't be said about the Braves, as the Cubs were looking to add on against Ray Kerr and the Braves pen. Kerr was sharp in his first inning of work, but once the fifth inning rolled around, the Cubs' offense got going again. All it took was a pair of singles from Michael Busch and Madrigal to put runners on the corners with one out as PCA dropped down a perfectly placed squeeze bunt to push home another run. That would be the Cubs final run until late in the game, but given how Assad pitched, there wasn't much worry sinking in. With Assad done after the sixth inning, it was time for Craig Counsell to go to his pen as he called on Ben Brown to pitch the seventh. Ever since his shaky MLB debut, Brown has been impressive as he continues to show he is one of the Cubs top prospects. Brown gave up the lone run of the game in his first inning of work off a pair of doubles, including the RBI double from former Cub Zack Short who continues to have a great series. Throughout this series and this road trip, for that matter, the Cubs have been seeing many former players, which continued in the eighth with Jesse Chavez taking the mound for Atlanta. PCA capped off his massive game with a leadoff triple off of Chavez to set the Cubs up before coming home on the Yan Gomes sacrifice fly to make things 6-1. PCA went home-to-third in 11.01 seconds, the fastest in MLB this year! pic.twitter.com/NPXfluOgqK After being victimized by some tough luck throughout the road trip, Suzuki was finally rewarded for some hard contact as he added a solo shot later in the eighth to close out the scoring with the Cubs in front 7-1. Seiya sends one out! 🚀@suzuki_seiya_sb pic.twitter.com/bZDdfeh65y Atlanta had a chance to add some late-game runs off of Luke Little in the ninth, but the left-hander recovered after putting the first two men on base to secure the win for the Cubs. The Cubs had 13 hits in the game, with Madrigal leading the way with three. Four other players had multi-hit games for Chicago, including PCA, Tauchman, Suzuki, and Bellinger in a much-needed win. #Cubs win. Mike Tauchman hits a lead off homer to begin the game. pic.twitter.com/IaTtQIkQjO “Right now, we’re not considering it.”
Javi está lanzando fuego en Atlanta 🔥 pic.twitter.com/S06cgyHWHK
Craig Counsell on a potential IL stint for Nico Hoerner. pic.twitter.com/uCmngtoo1P
