ATLANTA — The Chicago Cubs brought in 40-year-old Justin Turner over the offseason to get spot starts against left-handers and deliver in key moments.

Even when it’s against one of the best lefties in the game and a good friend, Chris Sale.

Turner and Sale spent the 2013 season as teammates in Boston, forging a friendship. During the fourth inning of a tied game on Wednesday with a runner on second, Sale quickly got ahead of Turner 0-2 on two inside sliders, but Turner battled back to get it to a full count. When Sale left a slider over the middle of the plate, Turner pounced for a go-ahead RBI double.

The Cubs tacked on a run in the fifth off Seiya Suzuki’s sacrifice fly, and the bullpen’s 4 2/3 shutout innings helped them secure a 3-2 win over the Braves.

Turner had previously faced Sale only three times before Wednesday, all in a 2019 game, collecting two hits, including a home run.

“It’s always fun competing against him because I know that he’s the ultimate competitor,” Turner said.

The Cubs (83-63) recovered from dropping the opener Monday to take the series with back-to-back victories. There are three takeaways from their performance at Truist Park.

1. The run game gets going again

The Cubs’ aggressiveness in attempting to steal bases played an important role in the offense’s production during the first half of the season.

That level of successful base stealing had been lacking lately, in part because the Cubs’ most proficient base stealers, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker, hadn’t been getting on base at a great clip or been put in good spots to go. There has been a slight shift this month and especially during their series in Atlanta.

The Cubs swiped six bases in their three games, regularly testing Atlanta’s rookie catcher Drake Baldwin. Two of their three steals on Wednesday scored. Dansby Swanson’s 15th steal of the year put him in position to come home on Turner’s double while Nico Hoerner’s steal of third base, his 26th overall this season, allowed him to easily tag up on Suzuki’s flyout and stood as the game’s decisive run.

The Cubs’ 14 steals in September lead the majors.

“I think it’s part of our identity, and we talked about it a couple days ago, remembering who we are, using our athleticism to create opportunities to score runs,” Turner said. “It’s easy when you’re going out there and you’re going up 15 hits and putting up 10 runs. But when you’re facing tough pitching, especially down the stretch, when you get into October, it’s about finding ways to create offense. And I think this series we did a really good job with our legs, creating a lot of chances.”

2. Jameson Taillon delivers in return from IL

On the heels of Shota Imanaga’s quality start in Monday’s loss and another stellar outing by Cade Horton on Tuesday (one run in 6 1/3 innings), Jameson Taillon came off the injured list Wednesday, needing to keep the game close knowing Sale was starting for Atlanta.

Taillon did his part by limiting the Braves to two runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two on 79 pitches. Taillon staying healthy down the stretch to give the Cubs innings is important for a rotation that manager Craig Counsell could look to find ways to potentially build in some rest before the postseason if they can lock down a playoff spot, and top wild-card seed, sooner rather than later.

“(Taillon) did a good job,” said catcher Carson Kelly, who homered Wednesday. “Maybe a little rough around the edges in the beginning and then settled in, executed some good pitches, made pitches when he needed to and got out of some jams. So, really good to have him back.”

3. The offense finds a way

It hasn’t always been pretty the last two months when it comes to scoring runs.

The Cubs clearly aren’t rolling like they were during the first 3 1/2 months, in large part because their key hitters haven’t been slugging. But the best teams find a way to get it done, and the steadiness from the Cubs’ pitching staff has helped them to avoid plummeting in the standings as the offense deals with collective inconsistencies.

Despite striking out eight of the first 12 Cubs hitters Sale faced, the offense found a way to scratch across three runs. Sale came into the night having allowed two runs or fewer in his last 13 starts.