"Nothing that Derek Lowe did in the weeks leading to September 2010 portended his dominant pitching that month.

Not much of what the veteran Braves pitcher has done lately indicates he's poised for another rousing September. But he's at least made some recent progress.

That's the best positive spin anyone could put on Lowe, who gave up three runs in the second inning of a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field, which snapped the Braves' six-game winning streak.

Home runs by Chipper Jones and Alex Gonzalez in the seventh and eighth innings made things interesting, but the Braves had just one other hit and lost for only the fifth time in their past 20 games. Jason Heyward struck out looking with a runner at first to end the game.

With 31 games left in the regular season, the Braves had a nine-game wild-card lead over San Francisco pending the outcome of the Giants' late game against San Diego.

"That's the luxury of how well we've played up to this point," Jones said. "We lose a game like tonight, and it doesn't really bother us. Because we are where we are. Now just file this one away and come back out tomorrow."

It was the 13th home run of the season and 449th of his career for Jones, who is tied with Jeff Bagwell for 34th on the all-time list. The 39-year-old third baseman has hit .407 in his past 15 games, and has four homers and nine RBIs in his past 11.

Ater Lowe issued a leadoff walk in the second inning, Alfonso Soriano followed with a two-run homer. The Braves trailed 3-0 until Jones' two-out homer in the seventh off Randy Wells (4-5), who limited the Braves to one run and two hits in 6-2/3 innings.

"Their guy pitched a good game," Lowe said, "and we can't really complain about one loss the way we've been playing over the last six weeks. Just go to bed, wake up and come back and get another victory."

Lowe (8-12, 4.63 ERA) was charged with three runs (two earned), four hits and four walks in seven innings, with six strikeouts.

"He was outstanding," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Gives up the home run to Soriano, and we kind of make him work a little extra there. I think he threw 40 pitches in that [second] inning. But for him to go seven innings and keep us in the ballgame, that was big. That was really, really big. He gets the loss but I think he deserves better.

"Hopefully this will carry on through the next start.""