CHICAGO (AP) — Ian Anderson and the Atlanta Braves are going home after a successful road trip.
All they want is more of the same.
“Hopefully we’re as hot as the weather there,” a grinning Anderson said. “It’s going to be hot.”
Anderson pitched three-hit ball into the seventh inning, Matt Olson hit a career-high three doubles and Atlanta beat the Chicago Cubs 6-0 on Sunday, salvaging the finale of their weekend series.
Travis d’Arnaud and Michael Harris II homered for the World Series champion Braves, who avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season. Next up is a seven-game homestand against San Francisco and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Braves, who arrived in Chicago with a 14-game win streak, went 21-8 in a stretch of 29 straight games against teams that were under .500 at the time of the matchup.
“It’s easy to say you should beat these teams, but, man, you’re a hit away every night from not,” manager Brian Snitker said. “So it’s good when you can.”
Anderson (6-3) struck out six and walked two in a season-high 6 2/3 innings, closing out a 4-2 road trip for Atlanta. The right-hander improved to 3-0 with a 4.37 ERA in four June starts.
“We lost the first two here, so that was a big emphasis to try to get it done today, to kind of put a cap on what was a good trip,” Anderson said.
Ian Happ had two of Chicago’s six hits. The Cubs dropped to 3-12 in their last 15 games.
While Anderson breezed through Chicago’s lineup for much of the day, Kyle Hendricks (2-6) struggled for the Cubs. The right-hander dropped to 1-4 with a 6.81 ERA in eight career games against Atlanta.
“I have to go back and look, but a lot of the replays looked like stuff in the middle of the zone,” manager David Ross said. “Just leaking…
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