Cubs Rally, Then Falter in Atlanta

It was a game that epitomized the season for both teams.

The Chicago Cubs, stuck in a six-game losing streak and headed toward their worst season since 1981, rallied from a 4-0 deficit to take a 5-4 lead into the ninth inning.

But Atlanta, the best team statistically in baseball, scored two runs in its final at-bat, sending the Cubs to their seventh consecutive defeat when Fred McGriff singled home Chipper Jones for a 6-5 victory Wednesday night.

All seven losses came on the road, and the Cubs open a 10-game homestand tonight against the Dodgers.

“We’ve had a lot of frustrating losses and a lot of frustrating moments,” Cubs outfielder Brian McRae said. “We just have to find a way to stay sane the next month.”

Jones, with 45 RBIs in his last 44 games, had three hits and drove in three runs, tying the game on a two-hop double that slipped under the glove of Gold Glove first baseman Mark Grace to score Danny Bautista, who led off the ninth with a triple against Mel Rojas (0-4).

McGriff followed with a sharp single to right field, and Jones slipped by catcher Scott Servais when Sammy Sosa’s throw was 20 feet up the third-base line. Rojas has blown six saves in 19 chances.

Alan Embree (3-1) picked up the win.

Bautista, the Braves’ fifth outfielder, came on in the sixth inning after Kenny Lofton left because of a sore hip flexor. Lofton said he wasn’t hurt seriously and Bautista came through with a huge hit in the ninth inning, lining a 3-and-2 pitch to the gap in deep left-center. The ball skimmed off McRae’s glove and rolled to the wall while Baustista hustled around to third.

“I thought I had it,” McRae said. “He hit it pretty good, and it carried.”

Doug Glanville’s RBI single in the eighth capped a two-run inning that gave the Cubs their first lead of the night. But it didn’t hold up.

“That was tough,” Manager Jim Riggleman said. “We’ve had a lot of tough losses. . . . We battled back and took the lead, but it just wasn’t to be.”