Chicago Cubs back Lester with 16 hits in 13-2 series win in Atlanta

In their final game at Turner Field, the Chicago Cubs unloaded on the Atlanta Braves for 13 runs on 16 hits. Southpaw Jon Lester put together another strong outing to pick up win No. 8 on the year.

Before making their way to our Nation’s Capital, Joe Maddon and those first-place Cubs had business to take care of in Atlanta. Yesterday, Chicago launched four home runs in the 8-1 win over the home team. Today was all about keeping the ball in the park.

Well, aside from Javier Baez and his three-run homer that capped a huge six-run eighth inning, every other run was either an RBI single or double. As long as your team is making solid contact, there’s no reason to complain.

Lester (8-3, 1.89 ERA) was absolutely lights on the mound, holding the Braves (18-44) to one unearned run on five hits, zero walks, and seven strikeouts in seven innings of work before handing the rest of the work over to his bullpen.

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First baseman Anthony Rizzo gave Chicago (43-18) an early 1-0 lead in the first inning of the game on his 13th double of the season. Rizzo’s extra base knock drove in Jason Heyward and moved Kris Bryant over to third.

Heyward finished the day 3-for-4 at the dish with two walks and scored three times today’s afternoon win. Even Atlanta fans were cheering on Heyward, which was pretty cool to hear if you ask me.

The Cubs added another two runs during the top of the fourth inning to break the 1-1 tie. David Ross singled out to right field to push Chris Coghlan into score making it a 2-1 ballgame.

Ross later added another RBI single in the sixth inning to extend Chicago’s lead up to 4-1 over reliever Casey Kelly. The man called Grandpa Rossy recorded his career 300 and 301 RBI.

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And just when the Braves were hoping to stop the bleeding, this dangerous lineup came through with another huge inning in the seventh. Rizzo came through with an RBI single with both Heyward and Bryant on.

Second baseman Ben Zobrist followed that up with an RBI double of his own to left-center field to score Bryant and moving Rizzo over to the hot corner. Ross worked a six-pitch bases loaded walk which made it 7-1.

Top outfielder prospect Albert Almora came in as a defensive sub and joined in on the hit parade with an RBI single of his own.