(AP) Braves grab NL East title, beat Cubs 5-2
By JAY COHEN
AP Sports Writer
CHICAGO
Freddie Freeman stood at the front of the cramped visiting clubhouse at Wrigley Field. Wearing a champagne-soaked gray T-shirt celebrating Atlanta’s NL East title, the big first baseman dreamed of more parties next month.
“This is only one celebration of four, hopefully,” he said with a grin.
Atlanta wrapped up the division crown, and then rode two homers by Andrelton Simmons to a 5-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs that touched off a wild party for the victorious Braves.
Sunday’s game was in the sixth inning when Washington lost 4-2 to Miami, giving the Braves their first NL East championship in eight years. There were a few high-fives in Atlanta’s dugout when the Marlins won, and a couple of Braves fans did the tomahawk chop in the stands.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez high-fived a fan as he made his way to the dugout after a lineup change, and the celebration really picked up when Craig Kimbrel finished for his major league-best 49th save. The Braves poured out of the dugout and bullpen and jumped in a circle near the mound at the 99-year-old ballpark.
“What a great feeling,” Gonzalez said. “It really is a great feeling to realize we’ve played 150-some games to get to this point. We knew early on that the Nationals had lost but we still wanted to be able to celebrate and come out with a win. And we did.”
The Braves sprayed bubbly and doused each other with beer during the clubhouse portion of the party. Cigars were passed around, and the smoke quickly filled the small room. A couple of players took a quick break to check on their fantasy football teams, and then rejoined the celebration.
“We’re a young team and we’re still learning and we’re doing our jobs still,” Simmons said. “We’re only going to get better. So we’ve got to keep everybody healthy and we’ll be fine.”
Simmons hit a solo drive in the fourth and a two-run shot in the eighth, giving him 17 homers on the year. It was more than enough run support for Julio Teheran (13-8), who struck out seven over six innings of one-run ball.
The Cubs had a chance to tie it when they put runners on second and third with two outs in the fifth, but Teheran managed to escape the jam despite a solid at-bat by Starlin Castro. Teheran needed 11 pitches to get Castro for a swinging strikeout, preserving Atlanta’s 3-1 lead.
“We have a lot of close games and we just haven’t been able to come back or rally at home,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said.
Freeman also hit a two-run homer for the Braves, who have won three of four. Freeman went got three hits and is batting .356 (26 for 73) with six homers and 17 RBIs in his last 20 games.
Freeman went deep in the first against Edwin Jackson (8-17), who allowed three runs and eight hits in six-plus innings. The right-hander leads the majors with 17 losses in his first season with the Cubs.
“I kind of feel like I got beat with two pitches,” Jackson said, “moreso the slider 1-2 (to Simmons) than the fastball by Freeman.”
Atlanta is headed to the playoffs for the second straight year and third time in four seasons. But it’s the first division title for the Braves since 2005, when they won 90 games and then lost to Houston in the division series.
The Braves were the NL’s top wild card a year ago, trying to make one more playoff run for Chipper Jones in the third baseman’s final season. Those hopes were quickly dashed when they committed three errors in a 6-3 home loss to St. Louis in their only game of the 2012 postseason.
“We know last year what happened,” Simmons said. “We played pretty good but not good enough and we had to deal with a one-game playoff thing. It’s definitely a different feeling.
“Now we know we’ve got some time, we’ve got some games to work with. We’ve got a little bit of time to rest our players.”
The only question now is home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs, with Atlanta, Los Angeles and St. Louis in the mix for the league’s best record.
It’s quite the accomplishment for Gonzalez and the Braves, who were beset by injuries for much of the year. Veteran catcher Brian McCann missed the first month following offseason shoulder surgery. The outfield of Jason Heyward and brothers Justin and B.J. Upton all missed time. Second baseman Dan Uggla had eye surgery and pitcher Tim Hudson broke his right ankle in July, shelving the right-hander for the rest of the season.
Atlanta kept going the way it often does _ with outstanding pitching. Teheran, Mike Minor and Kris Medlen helped anchor the rotation, while Kimbrel led the Braves’ shutdown bullpen, which overcame injuries to left-handers Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty to once again be among the majors’ best relief corps.
Of course, the lineup had its share of key performances. Freeman blossomed into a feared slugger, unheralded rookie Evan Gattis stepped up and Chris Johnson proved to be a more than adequate replacement for Jones at third.
“We had the injury bug with a lot of our starters,” Freeman said. “For us to overcome this and get everybody back and healthy going into the playoffs is pretty cool.”
NOTES: The Braves went 5-1 against the Cubs this season … Minor (13-7, 3.19 ERA) is slated to face Milwaukee RHP Marco Estrada (6-4, 4.26 ERA) when the Braves return home to open a three-game series against the Brewers on Monday. … Cubs RHP Jeff Samardzija (8-12, 4.42 ERA) faces Pirates RHP Charlie Morton (7-4, 3.35 ERA) on Monday in the opener of a three-game series at Wrigley.
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Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap
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