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Sports

Justin Upton continues stellar start, Braves top Cubs

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Atlanta, GA – Justin Upton is getting used to his new surroundings in Atlanta.

His older brother B.J. is still struggling mightily.

Justin Upton smacked his third homer in four games as the Atlanta Braves topped the Chicago Cubs, 4-1, in the opener of a three-game set.

The younger Upton cracked a solo shot and finished with a pair of RBI for Atlanta, which has won three of its first four tilts to start the season.

B.J. Upton is still hitless on the year after going 0-for-3 and striking out two more times. He's now 0-for-14 on the campaign with nine strikeouts.

Craig Kimbrel worked a 1-2-3 ninth to notch his second save of the year, while Mike Minor (1-0) fanned seven and surrendered a run on five hits over 7 1/3 innings to pick up the win.

"I had the confidence going into this season that I was going to attack the hitters like I did last year and throw more breaking balls and I didn't throw any two-seamers tonight," Minor said. "It's kind of a work in process. I work at in the bullpen and then kind of bring it (two seamers) out if I need to."

Scott Feldman (0-1) made his first start for Chicago, but was charged with four runs on five hits and four walks over 4 2/3 frames. He went 39-44 with a 4.81 ERA over eight seasons with the Texas Rangers before signing a one-year deal with the Cubs during the offseason.

"I had a little trouble with my command tonight and I got into some deep counts and they made me throw a lot of pitches. That's a tough lineup there," Feldman said.

The Braves plated a run in the first and third to jump out to a 2-0 lead.

Feldman tried sneaking an 0-2 fastball by Justin Upton on the inner half in the opening frame, but Upton golfed a liner just over the wall in left-center. In the third, he lifted a one-out sac fly to right after Andrelton Simmons worked a leadoff walk, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch.

Scott Hairston ripped a homer into the seats in left to get the Cubs on the board in the fifth, but the Braves countered with a pair of runs in the home half as Juan Francisco slapped a two-out, bases-loaded single to left.

Game Notes

B.J. Upton scored a run and stole a base ... The Braves were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base ... Chicago was 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position.