Yaz double, Dubón HR the difference as Braves become 1st team to 30 wins

ATLANTA -- Chris Sale and Bryce Elder have produced Cy Young Award credentials. As for Raisel Iglesias, Robert Suarez and Dylan Lee, they have been three of baseball’s best relievers this season.

This abundance of talent has helped the Braves enter Wednesday with a MLB-best 3.06 ERA. But manager Walt Weiss’ game management has been a significant reason why Atlanta’s pitching staff has been so successful.

Weiss successfully dealt with Grant Holmes’ short start on Tuesday night and he played all the right cards after lifting starting pitcher JR Ritchie in the fifth inning of a 4-1 win over the Cubs on Wednesday night at Truist Park.

Mike Yastrzemski drilled the go-ahead two-out double in the eighth and Mauricio Dubón added to Phil Maton’s woes by following with a two-run homer. But as the Braves became the first team to reach 30 wins this year, they once again received a great performance from their bullpen.

Making just his fourth career start, Ritchie allowed just one run, but needed 87 pitches to complete 4 1/3 innings. He was replaced by Tyler Kinley, who surrendered Nico Hoerner’s game-tying single and then recorded the inning’s final two outs.

It looked like part-time starter Martin Pérez might work the next two or three innings. But because Didier Fuentes had worked three scoreless innings after Holmes lasted just four innings on Tuesday, Weiss knew he could use his high-leverage relievers on Wednesday and still have at least one available for Thursday’s series finale.

So, Lee worked a scoreless seventh, Suarez kept the Cubs scoreless in the eighth and Iglesias shut the door in the ninth.