Cubs Pour on the Runs, Blast the Braves

The Chicago Cubs (43-18) exploded for thirteen runs on sixteen hits. Jon Lester (8-3, 1.89 ERA) did the rest by completely shutting down the Atlanta Braves (18-44) bats. The Cubs march to a 13-2 blowout win in the final game of the series (Box Score).

It was a close game early and felt like one that eventually could go either way. That was until the fourth inning, when David Ross hit an RBI single and Jon Lester executed a safety squeeze to perfection to plate Javy Baez from third. That put the Cubs up 3-1.

The Cubs then added a whopping ten more runs in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings. They batted through the entire order in the seventh inning and ended up leaving the bases loaded after a Jon Lester ground out, but the damage was done as they scored three runs off RBI hits from Anthony Rizzo (1B) and Ben Zobrist (2B), and a bases loaded walk to David Ross.

In the seventh inning the flood gates really opened up and things got fun again. Another time through the batting order but this time the Cubs didn’t go down with the bases loaded.

With two men on, Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, and Albert Almora all hit consecutive RBI singles. Javier Baez came up with two men on and hit a blast over the left field wall for a three-run home run to cap off the scoring for the Cubs making it 13-1.

Stats that mattered

• Jason Heyward keeps lighting it up – 3-for-4, 3R, 2BB
• Anthony Rizzo is swinging the bat extremely well – 3-for-6, 2R, 3RBIs
• Javy Baez had another exceptional game – 2-for-5, 2R, 3RBIs
• Jon Lester was superb – 7IP, 1R, 5H, 7Ks
• The Cubs combined for 16 hits, 8 walks and left 10 men on base while scoring 13 runs. A complete offensive barrage.

Bottom line

The Cubs flexed their offensive muscles in this game and showed a glimpse of what they are capable of. This game should serve notice to the rest of the league that the Cubs are just getting started. This summer is going to be a lot of fun….if you’re a Cubs fan. And why not, we deserve it!

Next up

The Cubs travel to the Nation’s capital to take on the Nationals in a three game series starting on Monday at 6:05 PM CDT. Kyle Hendricks (4-5, 2.90 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Cubs.