CHICAGO --  and  teamed up to help the Braves win the first of six straight National League East crowns in 2018. The longtime friends and teammates pushed themselves closer to celebrating another division crown as both of them homered in a 6-3 win over the Cubs on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

Acuña extended his hot streak with a two-run homer in the sixth inning and Albies halted a maddening slump with his go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh. The long balls backed Martin Pérez’s strong start and helped the Braves increase their lead to 5 1/2 games over the Phillies in the National League East.

Braves manager Walt Weiss dropped Albies to the eighth spot in the lineup on Tuesday. The veteran second baseman had hit just .155 (11-for-71) with a .500 OPS over his previous 19 games entering the night. But none of that mattered when he drilled right-handed reliever Jacob Webb’s 2-1 changeup over the ivy in right-center field.  

Albies’ 22nd homer of the season was his first since Sept. 1 and just his second since Aug. 11. The switch-hitting infielder entered Wednesday with a .557 OPS against right-handed pitchers going back to Aug. 14. 

Acuña struggled through much of August and was given a chance to mentally decompress when he was left out of the lineup during an Aug. 27 series finale against the Dodgers. The 2023 NL MVP has since looked more like himself.

Cubs starter Kevin Gausman, who also helped the Braves win the 2018 NL East crown, kept his former team scoreless until Acuña lined a one-out two-run homer just over the left-center field wall in the sixth. This was his 18th homer of the season and the fifth he had hit over his past 13 games.  

Acuña entered Tuesday hitting .379 with a 1.069 OPS over his past 17 games. Three of the four homers he hit within this span came against the Phillies. This latest one just helped further diminish Philadelphia’s division hopes. 

Drake Baldwin provided a pair of insurance runs in the ninth with a two-run blast off Edward Cabrera to set up Raisel Iglesias’ 33rd save of the season.