Cubs playoff chances take another turn for the worse after Braves complete sweep

There was more late bad news for the Cubs Thursday night.

This time, it wasn't delivered by the powerhouse Braves at Truist Park.

In the series opener Tuesday, Atlanta stormed back from a 6-0 deficit and, aided by right fielder Seiya Suzuki's 2-run error in the eighth inning, stunned the Cubs 7-6.

The next night, the Cubs led the Braves 3-1, 4-3 and 5-4 before losing 6-5 in 10 innings.

On Thursday, Atlanta took care of business early thanks to some more sloppy defense from the Cubs and won 5-3 to complete a three-game sweep.

"It's definitely a frustrating series for us," shortstop Dansby Swanson told reporters.

The real bad news was the Marlins rallying for a 2-1 lead over the Mets. Trailing 1-0 in the ninth inning, Miami scored a pair of runs before it started raining in New York and delayed the game.

With three games left on the schedule - the Cubs wrap up the season at Milwaukee and the Marlins finish at Pittsburgh - Miami is sitting pretty.

The Cubs and Marlins were tied heading into Thursday's play and Miami would make the playoffs if it ends that way since they own the tiebreaker after going 4-2 against the Cubs during the regular season.

As they headed out of Atlanta, the Cubs knew they need a three-game sweep over the Brewers this weekend at the very least.

"We've just got to go out and play good ball," Swanson said. "We've got three opportunities left to win some baseball games and see what happens at the end. We've got no choice.

"Sometimes we talk about how we bounce back, we've done it all year. We don't really have any options so we'll come out and be ready to go tomorrow."

Suzuki's gaffe in the first game against Atlanta set the tone for a sloppy defensive series at a crucial stage of the season.

Second baseman Nico Hoerner made a costly throwing error in the middle game and defensive miscues by left fielder Ian Happ and reliever Javier Assad, along with another lapse by Suzuki, doomed the Cubs Thursday.

"Playing clean baseball, we're better when we do that, right?" manager David Ross said. "The pitching, defense, that's been out signature when we're having success. We've just got to play a little bit cleaner baseball."

Marcus Stroman started Thursday for the Cubs and he wasn't effective. Making his second start since coming off the injured list with a rib cartilage fracture, the right-hander lasted just 2 innings and gave up 4 runs on 4 hits, including a 2-run homer to Matt Olson (No. 54).

"I wasn't able to execute like I was earlier in the year before I was on the IL," Stroman said. "Definitely frustrating. They're a really hot team over there and you've got to be dialed in from Pitch 1 and I feel like I wasn't executing from Pitch 1.

"It almost seems we just seemed defeated out there at times. Things didn't feel like they were going our way at all. I feel like everything that could be going wrong is going wrong. Hopefully, wash it and hopefully luck starts to be in our favor in Milwaukee."

Minor honors:

The Cubs named catcher Moises Ballesteros their minor-league player of the year Thursday. Cade Horton was named minor-league pitcher of the year.

Ballesteros, 19, hit .285 with 27 doubles, 14 home runs and 64 RBI in 117 games with low Class A Myrtle Beach, high A South Bend and AA Tennessee.

Horton, 22, went 4-4 with a 2.65 ERA in 21 starts for Myrtle Beach, South Bend and Tennessee.