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Cubs complete sweep of Braves

Aug 15, 2008 - 5:25 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Chicago Cubs did something that they have never done in their storied 133-year history. Mark Kotsay did something that a member of the Atlanta Braves has not done in almost 21 years.

Aramis Ramirez smashed a three-run homer and Alfonso Soriano added a two-run shot to lead the Cubs to an 11-7 win over the Braves and sweep the three-game set on Thursday night.

Kosuke Fukudome and Derrek Lee collected each collected two hits and scored twice for the Cubs, who swept a season series from the Braves for the first time in franchise history.

Kotsay became the fifth player in Braves history and the first player since Albert Hall on September 23, 1987 to hit for the cycle. The Braves center fielder tripled in the first before homering off Chicago starter Ted Lilly (12-6) in the fourth.

He laced a single off Lilly in the sixth before completing the cycle with a double down the right field line in the seventh. Kotsay finished his 5-for-5 night by singling up the middle with two outs in the ninth.

Besides Kotsay's heroics, things have gone remarkably well of late for Chicago (74-47), which holds a 4 1/2 game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers (70-52) in the National League Central Division. Chicago outscored woeful Atlanta, 29-9, in the three-game sweep while notching their first eight-game road winning streak in 63 years.

Chicago wasted no time making Tom Glavine's (2-4) return to hill a miserable one for the future Hall of Fame lefthander, who won his 300th game against the Cubs last August. Pitching for the first time since June 10, Glavine coughed up two runs in the first on RBI singles by Reed Johnson and Geovany Soto before Ramirez extended the lead to 5-1 with his 20th homer of the season in the third.

Soriano greeted Glavine with his team-leading 22nd homer in the fourth to give Chicago a 7-2 lead. Glavine allowed seven runs and seven hits, walked four and struck out three over four frames.

Atlanta added two runs in the bottom of the fourth before Chicago opened up an 11-4 lead thanks to a two-run fifth and seventh. But the Braves closed the deficit to three on a three-run blast by Jeff Francoeur in the seventh.

Lilly was the beneficiary of the Cubs offensive outburst, notching the win despite allowing four runs and six hits, walking two and striking out eight in six frames.

As if 18 runs and 28 hits were not enough for the decisively pro-Cubs crowd at Turner Field -- who were on their feet chanting "Let's Go Cubbies" in a ballpark without many Braves fans in it with two outs in the ninth -- this one also had a bit of controversy.

One night after recently demoted Atlanta reliever Francisley Bueno plunked Alfonso Soriano in the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader, Lilly hit Atlanta shortstop Yunel Escobar in the bottom of the sixth.

Escobar started screaming at Lilly while striding towards the mound as plate umpire C.B. Bucknor warned the Chicago starter. Bucknor quickly restrained Escobar, while crew chief Joe West got in front of Lilly as the benches and bullpens emptied. There were no ejections and no punches were thrown.