ATLANTA — You could be forgiven for thinking the Cubs might go 0-for-Georgia. When you’re looking to break a slump, like the Cubs were Thursday night, you don’t nominate Chris Sale as the guy you’d most like to see on the mound.
But while the Cubs didn’t exactly light up Truist Park, an unearned run off Sale and Ian Happ’s 428-foot solo home run off reliever Reynaldo Lopez sufficed to beat the Braves 2-0. Ben Brown and four Cubs relievers, who combined to shut out the Braves on five hits.
The win ended a four-game losing streak and gave the Cubs some positive vibes to take home to Chicago for the Crosstown Series against the White Sox, which begins Friday night in the Rate.
Entering play Thursday night, the Cubs had one hit in their last 28 chances batting with runners in scoring position. They’ve scored three runs in their last four games entering play here Thursday night against the Braves. Collectively, they have 13 hits in 120 at-bats in that span, a batting average of .108.
They scored their first run without the benefit of a hit, as an errant feed by Braves shortstop Ha-Seong Kim on Seiya Suzuki’s potential double-play ball put runners on the corners with no outs, and Happ, who had walked, scored on a force play.
Sale is a decade removed from the days when he was dealing for the White Sox, but since reviving his career three years ago when he came to Atlanta, he has been as intimidating as ever, still throwing his fastball at 98 mph. The left-hander won a Cy Young Award in 2024, was averaging just under 12 strikeouts per nine innings last season until fracturing a rib cage and missing 62 games, and at age 37 is off to another great start this season. He brought a 6-2 record, 2.20 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 49 innings into the start.
“Yeah, he’s one of the best in the game, so it’ll be a good test for us,’’ Happ said.
A test much better taken, it would seem, when the Cubs were scoring five or more runs a game, as they’ve done 23 times this season, including their last three games at home before this downturn.
The batting averages through the first 14 days of the month reflect the extent of the recent struggles. Moises Ballesteros is 2-for-34 (.059). Suzuki (.179), Alex Bregman (.209), Happ (.211), Nico Hoerner (.214), Pete Crow-Armstrong (.220). Even the team’s best-hitting regular in May, Michael Busch (.342), has been held hitless in Atlanta (0-for-5), though he has drawn three walks.
“We’ve run up high pitch counts, we’ve had traffic [on the bases}, the last few games we’re just not pushing it across, you know, all up and down the lineup, struggling to just push across the runs,’’ Happ said.
“But that happens over the course of a season. You’ll have a stretch where you get guys in scoring position, but you can’t quite get it done.’’
On Sunday, Happ’s streak of reaching base ended at 30 games. But during the last four games, he has struck out nine times in 11 at-bats.
“It felt like we were scoring six, seven runs a night [during the 10-game winning streak that ended Saturday], adding on the whole time,’’ he said. “But that’s baseball.”
Amaya back in lineup
Catcher Miguel Amaya, who had complained of some back tightness Friday and hadn’t played in a week, was back in the starting lineup Thursday.
With left-hander Sale on the mound, manager Craig Counsell installed Matt Shaw in right field and Suzuki served as DH.
Bregman, who homered Monday night and had two singles Tuesday night, moved up a spot in the order, batting second. Bregman started the season in the 2-spot but hadn’t hit there since April 26, with Ballesteros getting the majority of starts there.
Schedule updates
The Cubs announced a change in starting times for two games, one on the road, the second at home. The Memorial Day game (May 25) against the Pirates, originally scheduled to be a night game, is now scheduled for a 12:35 p.m. start. The start time of the Cubs’ game on Sunday night, June 7 at home against the Giants has been pushed back 10 minutes, to 7:30 p.m.
