Braves stay hot, shut down Cubs on road

ATLANTA — Jair Jurrjens needed this one, even if it wasn’t pretty.

Jurrjens pitched in and out of trouble for 6 1-3 innings, Dan Uggla and Freddie Freeman homered and the Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0 Monday night for their fifth straight win.

Jurrjens (13-5) allowed eight hits and walked five. The Cubs stranded 11 runners in the first six innings and 15 overall.

“My confidence was down, and going deep into the seventh inning was a mental boost for me,” Jurrjens said. “It’s going to keep growing from this outing.”

Though the righty allowed two or more baserunners in five different innings, he was able to make big pitches when he needed to.

“I got out of most of my jams with my changeup,” he said. “When I start getting a feel for my changeup, it makes the game a little easier for me. It’s my pitch to go to.”

Uggla homer gave him 30 home runs for the fifth straight season. No other second baseman in major league history has reached 30 homers more than three times overall.

“Who’d have thought, right?” said Uggla, who had 15 at the All-Star break, when he was batting just .185.

“I’ve been saying it all year long, that’s why you play the full season, keep working, stay positiveyou never know what can happen.”

Uggla leads the majors with 15 bombs in the second half.

“That’s what he came here to do, and he’s done it,” Gonzalez said. “He’s held his end of the bargain.”

The Braves won for the seventh time in eight games. They increased their lead in the NL wild-card race to 8