Ian Happ homered and five Chicago pitchers combined to throw a five-hit shutout on Thursday as the visiting Cubs avoided a sweep with a 2-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
Ben Brown started and tossed four innings for the Cubs, striking out seven and walking one while allowing just one hit. Hoby Milner (1-0) threw two scoreless frames before Phil Maton and Jacob Webb handled one inning apiece.
Daniel Palencia pitched the ninth inning and registered his third save of the year for the Cubs, who snapped a season-worst four-game losing streak.
Chris Sale (6-3) threw six innings, allowing one unearned run on five hits, striking out eight and walking a pair for the Braves, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Brown delivered 65 pitches before he was replaced by Milner. The first Chicago reliever tossed a perfect fifth, including an inning-ending strikeout of Mike Yasztremski.
In the sixth, Happ worked a leadoff walk before Atlanta shortstop Ha-Seong Kim’s throwing error on Seiya Suzuki’s grounder put runners on the corners.
Matt Shaw then grounded into a forceout to drive in the game’s first run. Sale struck out Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson to end the inning.
Atlanta’s Reynaldo Lopez took over for Sale in the seventh, and he worked around a one-out walk to preserve the one-run deficit.
Maton entered in the seventh for Chicago, allowing a two-out single to Dominic Smith in an otherwise clean frame.
Happ’s 10th homer of the year, a leadoff shot off Lopez in the eighth, doubled the lead.
Chicago’s pitching staff combined for 13 strikeouts against one walk to limit the Braves’ league-leading scoring offense. Atlanta had a hit in each of the final four innings but managed multiple baserunners just once, in the second inning.
The Braves were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position and stranded seven runners. They were shut out for the second time this season and the first time in more than a month.
–Field Level Media
