Major League Baseball
Chi. Cubs 8, Atlanta 2
When: 12:10 PM ET, Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Where: SunTrust Park, Cumberland, Georgia
Temperature: 89°
Umpires: Home - Ed Hickox, 1B - Mark Carlson, 2B - CB Bucknor, 3B - Manny Gonzalez
Attendance: 40054

ATLANTA -- The Chicago Cubs, who went into the All-Star break two games under .500, have won six straight since and are starting to look a little more like the team that won the World Series a year ago.

Left-hander Mike Montgomery allowed two hits over six innings and belted his first career homer Wednesday as the Cubs completed a second straight series sweep with an 8-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

"The first homer obviously is pretty exciting," said Montgomery, who came into the game 0-for-13 at the plate. "I had a bunch of family here, so to do it in front of them was a lot of fun."

Addison Russell was 4-for-4 with two doubles and the Cubs got homers from Javier Baez and Tommy La Stella, who entered when Kris Bryant sprained a finger in the first inning.

Baez's mammoth three-run homer to center field off reliever Jose Ramirez in the eighth inning locked up the victory for the Cubs (49-45). It was Baez's 12th homer.

"Monty went out there and set the tone," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "The bats were great again. We just played another really good baseball game."

"That's not a team that's going to stay dormant," Braves manager Brian Snitker said of the Cubs. "They're too good for that."

Montgomery (2-6) struck out five, walked one and hit a batter in his best start as a fill-in starter for Kyle Hendricks, who is about to come of the disabled list.

A sixth-inning leadoff homer by Ender Inciarte was the only damage against Montgomery, who had allowed at least four runs in each of his past three starts.

Braves starter R.A. Dickey (6-6) allowed four runs on seven hits over seven innings. He struck out five and walked two.

Montgomery's homer came on a get-over 80-mph fastball from Dickey with two outs in the fifth inning, the blast easily getting over the 16-foot wall in right field.

"He put it pretty much the only place I could do that," Montgomery said. "I was going to take my chance there and it felt pretty good off the bat."

"That's the first time in my career that a pitcher swung on a 2-0 pitch against me in a situation like that," Dickey said. "He ambushed me and you have to give him credit. He had a good swing."

Danny Santana doubled with one out in the fifth inning for the Braves' first hit and Sean Rodriguez followed with a walk. A double steal put two runners in scoring position, but Montgomery struck out Dansby Swanson and got Dickey to bounce out.

La Stella's second homer of the season came leading off the sixth inning. He had entered the game in the middle of the first after Bryant, who had doubled, sprained the little finger on his left hand in a head-first slide trying to advance on a pitch in the dirt.

X-rays ruled negative for Bryant, who was listed as day to day. The reigning National League MVP, hit the foot of Braves third baseman Johan Camargo with his hand as he was thrown out.

"I think we really kind of dodged the bullet right there," Maddon said.

Tyler Flowers hit his seventh homer for the Braves (45-48) leading off the bottom of the seventh against reliever Justin Grimm.

NOTES: Braves 1B Freddie Freeman left the game after four innings because of illness. He was 0-for-2 with a strikeout. ... The Braves optioned OF Lane Adams to Triple-A Gwinnett when RHP Arodys Vizcaino (strained right index finger) came off the 10-day disabled list. Vizcaino allowed a ninth-inning run on three hits. ... The Braves open an 11-game road trip with a four-game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles starting Thursday. ... The Cubs are idle Thursday before a three-game weekend series in Chicago with St. Louis. ... With Tuesday's game not ending until after 1 a.m. ET, the teams had just 11 hours before Wednesday's first pitch at 12:12 p.m. ... The starts of the first two games in the series were delayed a total of three hours and 34 minutes. ... The Braves have had 11 delays in their first season at SunTrust Park lasting nearly 30 hours.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Chi. Cubs   Atlanta
Mike Montgomery Player R.A. Dickey
Win W/L Loss
6.0 IP 7.0
5 Strikeouts 5
2 Hits 7
1.50 ERA 3.86
Hitting
Chi. Cubs   Atlanta
Addison Russell Player Ender Inciarte
4 Hits 2
2 RBI 1
0 HR 1
6 TB 5
1.000 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Chi. Cubs 13 3 26 .342 19 7 8 3 0 0
Atlanta 6 2 13 .188 12 10 2 1 2 1