ATLANTA – Derrek Lee homered twice and Jacque Jones hit a three-run shot as the Chicago Cubs avoided a sweep in Atlanta with only their fourth win in 22 games, beating the Braves 8-3.

Lee, playing just his 47th game in an injury-plagued season, hit a three-run homer in the third inning to chase John Smoltz and added a solo shot in the fifth on the first pitch from Ken Ray, one of eight pitchers used by Atlanta.

The only solace for the Braves: The first-place New York Mets were routed 16-5 by Florida, which prevented Atlanta from being eliminated from the NL East race to break its streak of 14 straight division titles.

The Braves are 51/2 games behind NL wild-card leader San Diego, with five other teams also ahead of them.

Jones homered in the first, when it appeared Smoltz (12-9) might escape a jam. After Juan Pierre and Freddie Bynum started the game with back-to-back singles, Aramis Ramirez flied out and Lee struck out.

But Jones drove an 0-1 pitch into the left-field stands for his 24th homer. Smoltz stared in that direction with a look of disbelief after the ball cleared the wall.

In the third, Bynum led off with a walk and Smoltz called the trainer to the mound, flexing as though he felt pain in his groin. He stayed in the game after throwing a couple of warmup pitches, which proved to be a mistake.

Smoltz walked the next hitter as well, then gave up Lee’s eight homer of the season to give the Cubs a 6-0 lead. That was it for the Atlanta starter, who lasted just two-plus innings in his second-shortest outing of the season.

The loss was Smoltz’s third in a row, and this late slump by the team’s best pitcher has dealt a severe blow to Atlanta’s wild-card hopes.

For much of the season, the 39-year-old right-hander was the one who prevented the struggling Braves from falling into a long losing streak. But his last three starts have all halted winning streaks.

Atlanta, which won the first three games of the series, lost to Chicago for the first time all season. The Cubs’ last win at Turner Field went back even further, to April 11, 2004. The had lost seven straight at the Ted and 12 of 13 to the Braves overall.

Rich Hill (5-6) won for the fifth time in seven decisions since being recalled from the minors in late July. He went 5 2-3 innings, giving up six hits and one earned run while striking out six.

The Braves scored an unearned run in the fourth on Martin Prado’s run-scoring single after Ramirez, leading NL third basemen in fielding percentage, bobbled a grounder for his second error of the game.

Hill allowed another RBI single in the sixth to pinch-hitter Brayan Pena, the final hitter faced by the Chicago starter. The lefty threw 120 pitches.

Smoltz lasted 1 2-3 innings in his shortest start of the season, leaving a June 23 game at Tampa Bay because of a strained right groin. He was able to make his next start, going seven innings against the New York Yankees.

Notes: Lee had the 18th two-homer game of his career and first since Aug. 28, 2005, vs. Florida. … The crowd of 19,444 was the third-smallest of the season in Atlanta. The only lower turnouts were 19,212 vs. Colorado on May 1 and 19,254 vs. Florida on May 15, which also were Monday night games.

AP-ES-09-11-06 2218EDT