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Major League Baseball
Chi. Cubs 9, Atlanta 3
When: 2:20 PM ET, Sunday, August 23, 2015
Where: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
Temperature: 76°
Umpires: Home - Ben May, 1B - Doug Eddings, 2B - Adrian Johnson, 3B - Bill Miller
Attendance: 39581

CHICAGO -- The host Cubs took advantage of friendly winds with five home runs while right-hander Jason Hammel reclaimed his form on Sunday in a 9-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves to complete a four-game sweep.

"Sometimes you get the wind blowing out and you get in the basket and sometimes it doesn't even get to the outfield," said third baseman Kris Bryant, who went 3-for-4 with two home runs. "Today was a good day to hit and I think we took advantage of it."

The Cubs jumped to a 7-0 lead after three innings on four home runs. Prevailing westerly winds helped balls to right and center fields, but it didn't seem to affect the two shots to left field either.

Hammel, who had three straight no-decisions this month, worked 6 1/3 innings for his longest outing since pitching seven innings against Miami on July 3.

"Long time coming I guess," he said. "It's a lot easier to pitch with a lot of run support and it allows me to be more aggressive. It was the first time I felt like me in a while."

The victory put the Cubs (71-51) a season-high 20 games above .500 after sweeping their fourth four-game series of the season for the first time 1945.

It was also their first four-game sweep of the Braves since 1968.

The Cubs are now two wins away from matching their 2014 victory total and are on pace for 94 wins. Atlanta (53-71) has now lost seven straight.

Braves right-hander Matt Wisler (5-4) lasted less than three innings in his 12th career appearance and suffered his second straight loss. He is now winless in his last five starts.

"We needed a win today," Wisler said. "I didn't give us a good chance to be in the game. I gave up seven in the first three innings. It's really hard to come back from that. I left a couple pitches up today and the ball was just up."

Center fielder Dexter Fowler slugged his career-best 14th home run of the season to open the Cubs first.

Fowler took the 1-0 pitch from Wisler and deposited it in the left-field bleachers for a 1-0 lead.

Four batters later, Bryant sent a towering shot to right for his 18th homer of the year. The first-pitch shot also scored first baseman Anthony Rizzo for a 3-0 Cubs lead.

Left fielder Kyle Schwarber joined the homer parade in the second with his 11th of the season, a two-out solo blast to left for a 4-0 Chicago lead.

Rizzo and Bryant reached in the third inning with none out and catcher Miguel Montero launched the Cubs' fourth homer of the game for a 7-0 Chicago lead. It was his 13th homer of the season and second in two days.

Wisler then gave up a single and walk and was pulled in favor of left-hander Andrew McKirahan. Wisler allowed seven runs on six hits, walked three and struck out two over 2 2/3 innings.

"People have seen you now, (so) you gotta go out there and can't get away with mistakes. You gotta throw the fastball and gotta pitch to weaknesses," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "You got another month, you keep running them out there, they'll be better off for it next year."

Atlanta broke the shutout in the fifth, scoring twice on Hamel as catcher Ryan Lavarnway homered to center to lead off and left fielder Nick Swisher singled home center fielder Cameron Maybin with two out.

Bryant clubbed his second homer of the game on a full count to lead off the Cubs sixth and open a 9-2 lead. It was his 19th homer and marked his third multihomer game of the season.

Hamel faced one batter in the seventh and departed in favor of left-handed reliever Clayton Richard after pinch hitter Eury Perez lined out to second.

Hamel gave up two runs on six hits, walked one and struck out eight while throwing 105 pitches, 70 for strikes.

"I thought he was really sharp, much better command of everything," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. "Everything was working, so I know he's leaving the ballpark today feeling pretty good about himself."

The Braves pushed across one run in the seventh as Swisher picked up his second RBI with a two-out single that drove in Maybin to make it 9-3.

NOTES: Braves LF Nick Swisher displayed prowess on both sides of the plate over the weekend with two homers on Saturday -- one as a left-handed batter in the second inning and later as a right-handed batter. It was the 14th time in his career he has homered from both sides of the plate. ... Atlanta returns home on Monday to open a nine-game homestead. Braves RHP Julio Teheran (8-6, 4.32 ERA) goes against Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa (7-5, 4.50 ERA) in the first of three games. The Braves play 25 of their final 38 at home. ... Chicago hosts Cleveland in a makeup game at 1:05 p.m. on Monday and then departs on a six-game West Coast trip. ... The Cubs send LHP Jon Lester (8-9, 3.58 ERA) against Indians RHP Corey Kluber (8-13, 3.58 ERA). ... Cubs CF Dexter Fowler homered to lead off Sunday's series finale, his career-high 14th of the season. He entered Sunday with a .452 on-base percentage since the All-Star break, which is third best in the National League. ... Cubs 3B Kris Bryant continues to lead NL rookies and, after two home runs, he now has 74 RBIs for the season.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Atlanta   Chi. Cubs
Matt Wisler Player Jason Hammel
Loss W/L Win
2.2 IP 6.1
2 Strikeouts 8
6 Hits 6
23.62 ERA 2.84
Hitting
Atlanta   Chi. Cubs
Nick Swisher Player Kris Bryant
3 Hits 3
2 RBI 3
0 HR 2
3 TB 9
.750 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Atlanta 8 1 12 .229 10 9 3 1 1 1
Chi. Cubs 11 5 26 .306 16 9 9 6 0 0