Chicago Cubs revved up for Braves in 8-3 win
Maybe it took the uptick in competition to snap the Chicago Cubs out of their doldrums.
The Atlanta Braves rode into town Monday night as the convincing leaders of the National League East, and the Cubs responded.
They scored single runs in the second and fourth innings against Julio Teheran before blowing it open with 5 in the fifth for an 8-3 victory at Wrigley Field.
Starting pitcher Jon Lester rebounded with his first quality start since June 3, as he went 6 inning, giving up 2 unearned runs.
This one also had a little bit of an edge to it, which might not have been a bad thing for the Cubs.
Willson Contreras led off the bottom of the second with a home run to right field. After he hit it, he turned and said something to Braves catcher Tyler Flowers. The benches emptied after Contreras rounded the bases, but no punches were thrown.
"It's nothing," said Contreras, who has 16 homers. "A lot of things of the game, a lot of emotions together. We were just having a conversation with the umpire. It ended up with him (Flowers). That's all that I can say. I was basically telling (Flowers) to do his job. I'll do mine. I don't know why he got (ticked) off because that's all I said: 'You do your job; I'll do mine.' "
Contreras said he initially was asking about balls and strikes with home-plate umpire John Tumpane and that Flowers jumped in. Cubs manager Joe Maddon saw nothing to it.
"It really wasn't worth more than what happened," said Maddon, whose team is 43-35.
The Cubs had been in a funk, splitting the first six games of the homestand against the White Sox and New York Mets. Even so, they maintained their lead in the National League Central.
"It's obvious the last five weeks have been a little bit of a flatter period for us," said team president Theo Epstein. "We haven't played great. The record shows it. The run differential shows it. Just watching us play, we're not playing quite as clean baseball or locked-in baseball, making some more of those avoidable mistakes that we'd want back.
"To a certain extent, every team goes through that at some juncture of the year. On the other hand, making sure we get past that and play better baseball is essential to winning a really competitive division. We need to shake that out and get locked back in."
One big key is Lester. He had struggled on and off since the middle of May, but he picked up a win against the White Sox last week. He retired the first nine Braves before Ronald Acuña led off the fourth with a single.
The Braves scored their unearned runs in the sixth after David Bote missed Javier Baez's throw from shortstop on a potential double-play grounder. Nick Markakis eventually made the Cubs pay with a 2-run single.
"I think the biggest thing is just not trying so hard," said Lester, who improved to 7-5 with a 3.83 ERA. "I think sometimes you get in ruts where you feel like your pitches are working and you're trying a little bit too hard to make them as good as you can. Sometimes it's better to take a step back."