Braves 11, Cubs 6
Chris Johnson clubbed a pair of two-run homers and Justin Upton added two hits and also had four RBIs as visiting Atlanta tied the series at one game apiece.
Mike Minor (3-5) ended a nine-start winless drought despite allowing six runs on 11 hits over six innings and helped himself with a solo homer to improve to a 6-0 in six career starts versus Chicago. Andrelton Simmons collected three hits, scored twice and drove in one.
Justin Ruggiano had three hits and an RBI and Chris Coghlan added two hits and three RBIs for the Chicago, which lost for the seventh time in nine games. Edwin Jackson (5-10) was pounded for nine runs on seven hits over 3 2/3 innings to fall to 0-4 lifetime against the Braves.
Ruggiano and Coghlan each had RBI hits in the bottom of the first but Atlanta tied it in their next at-bat on Johnson's towering two-run blast to left. Johnson put the Braves ahead to stay during a six-run fourth with a laser into the seats in left and Minor hit his second career homer before Jackson loaded the bases and departed in favor of Carlos Villanueva.
Upton greeted Villanueva with a bases-clearing double to make it 9-3, but Chicago answered with three in the fifth on a passed ball and Coghlan's two-run double. But Atlanta put it out of reach with back-to-back run-scoring singles by Jason Heyward and Upton in the eighth.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Johnson has six homers and 16 RBIs in 23 career games at Wrigley Field. ... Ruggiano boosted his career numbers versus Minor to 10-for-23 with nine RBIs. ... Atlanta entered the contest with one homer in its previous 411 at-bats but went deep three times in its first 16 at-bats. ... Jackson reached a milestone by surpassing 1,200 career strikeouts.