Addison Russell suffers injury vs Braves; Cubs’ 20 games above .500

After ending their three-game skid in this four-game series opener against the Atlanta Braves, the Chicago Cubs were able to put together yet another sweep by swatting another handful of home runs in yesterday’s 9-3 win.

Rookie third baseman, Kris Bryant clubbed two of his own while Dexter Fowler, Kyle Schwarber, and Miguel Montero pitched in to help back up their starting pitcher Jason Hammel. Hammel was coming off a nightmarish outing against the Detroit Tigers but was able to bounce back with a decent performance on the mound.

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While the Cubs celebrated their victory, it was reported by The Score that shortstop Addison Russell had suffered a groin injury which was the reason behind him being replaced by Starlin Castro.

The 21-year-old has hit two home runs during this successful home stand and has played even better since being moved back over to his natural position. Hopefully, he won’t be out too long with the Cubs traveling to the West Coast after Monday’s make-up game against the Cleveland Indians later on today.

Chicago will look to extend their six-game lead when they visit the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday then roll to Los Angeles to take on Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were able to sink the Giants yet again with a 5-2 win just a day after Starling Marte delivered a walk-off bomb on Saturday.

Despite picking up another game ahead of the Cubs in the N.L. Central, Pittsburgh’s victory helped out the North Siders by pushing the defending champions to six games out of the second Wild Card spot.

Now that Joe Maddon‘s group of home run hitting machines are back to their winning ways in the final week of August, the Cubs are now 20 games above .500. This is something that hasn’t happened in quite some time.

In fact, they’re only two wins away from eclipsing their 2014 total when they finished with a 73-89 record which was a huge improvement to 2013’s 66-96. It’ll be up to southpaw Jon Lester to push his club to 21 games over when he takes the mound at 1:05 p.m. central time.

Here’s more from around the league:

‘Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo heating up down the stretch‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘Chicago Cubs: Dan Haren hasn’t proven to be the answer yet‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘Pittsburgh Pirates overcome errors in 5-2 win over Giants‘ – Rum Bunter

‘Tampa Bay Rays Game 124: Steve Geltz collapses in 7th‘ – Rays Colored Glasses

‘Oakland Athletics’ Sean Doolittle is not ready to resume closer duties‘ – Swingin A’s

Next: Bryant homers twice to lead Cubs to sweep