Ian Anderson pitched three-hit ball into the seventh inning, Matt Olson hit three doubles and the Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs 6-0 on Sunday at Wrigley Field, salvaging the finale of their weekend series.
Travis d’Arnaud and Michael Harris II homered for the defending World Series champion Braves, who avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season.
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The Braves, who arrived in Chicago with a 14-game winning streak, went 21-8 in a stretch of 29 straight games against teams that were under .500 at the time of the matchup.
Anderson (6-3) struck out six and walked two in a season-high 6⅔ innings. The right-hander improved to 3-0 with a 4.37 ERA in four June starts.
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Ian Happ had two of the six hits for the Cubs, who dropped to 3-12 in their last 15 games.
While Anderson breezed through the Cubs lineup for much of the day, Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (2-6) struggled.
With two out and Dansby Swanson aboard in the first, Hendricks walked Olson before d’Arnaud reached Waveland Avenue with a 433-foot drive to left for a three-run homer.
Harris led off the fifth with his third homer, and consecutive doubles by Swanson, Austin Riley and Olson made it 6-0 with one out. Olson’s hit chased Hendricks, who is winless in his last six starts.
The Cubs loaded the bases in the eighth against Jesse Chavez, but A.J. Minter escaped the jam when he retired Patrick Wisdom on a fly to right.
OF Seiya Suzuki (sprained left ring finger) is slated to travel to Arizona on Monday to continue his rehab at the team’s spring training facility. … RHP Marcus Stroman (shoulder inflammation) threw off the mound in the Cubs bullpen before the game. … INF David Bote (left shoulder surgery) had two hits and three RBIs in a rehab appearance for Triple-A Iowa.
Cubs RHP Caleb Kilian (0-1, 8.00 ERA) makes his third major-league start Monday night in the opener of a four-game series in Pittsburgh. RHP JT Brubaker (0-7, 4.50 ERA) pitches for the Pirates.
