ATLANTA — Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner’s knack for improvising plays that defy belief has a flip side, though it rarely is seen.
The ‘‘Oh, wow’’ gives way to an ‘‘Oh, no.’’
With the Cubs and Braves tied at a run apiece in the eighth inning Wednesday, Hoerner saw Michael Harris II sprinting down the line on a slow roller and decided his only chance to get him out was to shovel the ball underhanded with his glove to first baseman Michael Busch.
To the Cubs’ horror, the ball went over Busch’s head. Harris reached safely, and a night of what manager Craig Counsell called ‘‘awesome . . . wonderful’’ pitching by Shota Imanaga was about to go into a death spiral.
Imanaga departed, then reliever Phil Maton hung a couple of curveballs — one that pinch hitter Mike Yastrzemski hit for a tiebreaking double and another that Mauricio Dubon launched into the left-field seats for a two-run home run.
Braves 4, Cubs 1.
Raisel Iglesias, who has yet to be scored on this season, finished off the Cubs in the ninth for his eighth save, and the Braves became the first team in the majors to reach 30 victories.
The Cubs, meanwhile, have their first four-game losing streak of 2026. In two days, the Braves’ bullpen has held them to two singles in 10 scoreless innings. The Cubs have scored a total of three runs during their skid.
‘‘We made a lot of really nice plays tonight,’’ Counsell said on a night leather was flashed on both sides. ‘‘I’m sure Nico — it was a tough play, not an easy play — I’m sure he would tell you, ‘I could have made that play,’ but it was a tough play.’’
Counsell knows his second baseman.
‘‘I think I made it a harder play than it needed to be,’’ Hoerner said. ‘‘Just kind of misread the timing of it. Looking back on the play, there was definitely time to transfer to my hand.
“But you do rely on instincts all the time, and I trust that works most of the time. . . . But it definitely stings to have an error lead to the game-winning run.’’
The official scorer gave Harris a hit, and Imanaga was saddled with the loss on a night in which he set the Braves down in order in five of his seven-plus innings, didn’t walk a batter and allowed only five hits, including a home run to Drake Baldwin in the fourth.
The homer came on an out-of-the-zone slider that Baldwin had to reach for, but he nonetheless was strong enough to hit it 402 feet over the center-field wall.
Wonderful pitching? Imanaga wouldn’t go that far.
‘‘My outing, if I didn’t give up any runs, the Cubs would have had a chance to win,’’ he said. ‘‘So I think when I’m looking at it, you know, I should have kept it to zero.’’
Giving Liam a look
The Cubs are taking a flier on reliever Liam Hendriks, who won the hearts of White Sox fans in two seasons as their All-Star closer (2021-22), then tugged on their heartstrings with his very public — and successful — battle against Stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The Cubs signed Hendriks, 37, to a minor-league deal and initially plan to send him to their facility in Mesa, Arizona, with the expectation that he eventually will join Triple-A Iowa, Counsell said.
‘‘It’s essentially just depth right now and taking a shot at somebody who’s had a lot of success and see what happens,’’ Counsell said.
