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Dan Uggla continued to be red hot, extending his hitting streak to 33 and adding a home run, his 27th of the year, a shared third sport in the NL, one less than Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman. The Atlanta Braves, however, weren’t fortunate enough to continue their winning streak, losing 8-4 to the Chicago Cubs after five straight wins.

The Braves did get 14 hits, but the Cubs’ bats pounded Derek Lowe (7-11, 4.77 ERA) and the guy who subbed for him, Cristhian Martinez. The Cubs (52-68) featured two players with four hits (Stralin Castro and Darwin Barney) and had a team batting average of .333. They didn’t even need home runs or impressive pitching  – Randy Wells (4-4, 5.90) had 5 so so innings before Jeff Samardzija, Sean Marshall and the rest pretty much finished things for the Braves.

Jose Constanza of the Braves had a rare funk, not getting a hit at his 4 at bats. In 14 games this season, it was only the third time Constanza failed to record a hit. And that leaves with Uggla, who has both power and hit batting prowess back at his side.

It’s 33 now – He’s now one of only 23 players in MLB history with a 33 game hitting streak. He now has the Atlanta Braves record and needs four more to have the franchise record, which is 37 by (you should know it by now…) Tommy Holmes from way back in 1945 for the Boston Braves.

Uggla improved his season average to .232, looking more and more respectable in that regard. His slugging is up to .453. We’ll mention another known number by now – His batting average was .173 before the streak began. His Slugging was .327. During the streak, he’s now up to a .370 batting average and 15 home runs, in the span of just over a month. The Braves have won 7 of their last 9 games.

Uggla’s next pitcher battle will be Matt Garza. Garza will be making his first career start against the Braves. Uggla is 3-9 in his career against Garza, in his first year with the Cubs. He’s 5-9 this year with 3.81 ERA and allowing a .246 batting average.