Today's Three Things: Cubs Even the Series as Braves Held to Just Four Hits

Cade Horton dominates the Braves once again as the Rookie of the Year race tightens

The Chicago Cubs use a stellar Cade Horton performance and a strong eighth inning to defeat the Atlanta Braves 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Here are Today’s Three Things.

The Turning Point

The top of the eighth.

The Cubs entered the inning up by a single run, 2-1, as newly acquired Braves reliever Alexis Diaz entered the game. With the opportunity in front of them to add an insurance run to their slim lead, they did just that and way more.

The inning started with a quick Seiya Suzuki groundout, but was followed by a Pete Crow-Armstrong hit by pitch and stolen base. Nico Hoerner walked before the second out was recorded on a Carson Kelly strikeout. Willi Castro and Dansby Swanson then draw back-to-back walks to make the score 3-1. This ended Alexis Diaz’s night on the mound, but not in the scorebook.

Connor Seabold came in and immediately gave up a two-RBI single to Matt Shaw, but a third run scored on a fluky play at third base. Dansby Swanson, attempting to go first to third on the base hit, screened Nacho Alvarez and he missed the incoming throw, knocking the ball away and ultimately leading to Swanson scoring the game’s sixth run.

So despite getting just one hit in the eighth, the Cubs scored four runs to ice this one.

Today’s Player of the Game

Spencer Strider. The (beardless) right-hander, for the first time in what feels like forever, put together a vintage Strider-like start.

Just eight days ago, he took the bump in Wrigley Field. After going just five innings, allowing three runs and striking out just one in that start, tonight was a much different story. Strider went six innings, allowing just two runs and striking out eight, all of which were swinging.

It didn’t initially look like it would be a clean outing, though - the Cubs loaded the bases with no one out in the first inning. Strider gave up a Pete Crow-Armstrong sac-fly, but that is all, getting out of the inning thanks to a strikeout of Nick Hoerner and a flyout off the bat of Carson Kelly. Strider then hunkered down and only gave up one more run during the next five innings.

This was a big start for Spencer Strider to build on before hopefully making a few more starts to cap off the 2025 season. Stay tuned; Lindsay will have more on Strider’s specific adjustment tomorrow morning.

HONORABLE MENTION: Ronald Acuña Jr. scored tonight’s lone run for the Braves. The former MVP broke Horton’s no-hitter with a leadoff double in the third inning, coming around to score on a Jurickson Profar single to right. His three batted balls on the evening were all over 100 mph, including a 113.3 mph single in the 5th, Atlanta’s 11th hardest-hit ball of the season.

What You’ll Be Talking About

The Alexis Díaz experiment. Yes, already.

Lindsay broke down the Braves' intentions with Díaz recently, and the ultimate conclusion was that Rick Kranitz would try to fix him. However, this may be a very short-lived project. Díaz made his first appearance with the organization tonight and to put things nicely, it was horrendous.

In his Braves debut, the former All-Star got just two outs. He gave up four runs (three earned) while allowing four free passes. One was a hit by pitch and the other three were walks, one even with the bases loaded. Twenty-eight pitches, ELEVEN strikes.

He gave way to Connor Seabold, who eventually got out of the inning, but not before allowing all of the inherited Díaz runners to score.

The final line for Díaz read: 0.2 IP, 0H, 4R, 3ER, 1K, 3BB, 1HBP.

Looking for more discussion about this game?

Lindsay and Jake Mastroianni of Locked On Braves broke down the loss live on the Locked On Braves Postcast.

What’s Next for the Braves?

The Braves will wrap up the series with the Cubs tomorrow at 6:15 PM.

Chris Sale (5-4, 2.38 ERA) will take on Javier Assad (2-1, 4.62 ERA) in the rubber match before a Thursday off day.