CHICAGO -- Matt Szczur smacked his first career grand slam to highlight a five-run eighth inning and the Chicago Cubs maintained their torrid start with a 6-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have the best record in the major leagues at 17-5 and their start is the franchise’s best since 1907.

But nearly all of that was overshadowed by another comic/tragic example of starter Jon Lester's mental block of making a simple throw to first base during a crucial point in the seventh inning.

The good news: Lester, who allowed just one run on seven hits while striking out 10 in seven innings, was able to work out of the bases-loaded jam of his own making.

The bad news: He may not be so fortunate in a similar situation later in the year when there’s less of a margin for error and one mistake can end the team’s dream.

Here was the situation on Friday: After Jeff Francoeur opened the seventh with a single, Tyler Flowers walked to put runners on first and second. The next batter, Erick Aybar, attempted to sacrifice but pushed a horrible bunt right back to the mound.

Lester had plenty of time to make a play. He could have gone to third base to attempt to get the lead runner or he could simply take the free out and throw to first base. He turned toward first, but never took the ball out of his glove. Aybar was credited with a gift base hit to load the bases with none out in a 1-1 tie.

“No matter what I say about the bunt in that inning, nobody’s really going to believe what I say,” Lester said. “You know, I never had a handle on it. I fielded it. The ball kind of rattled around in my glove and I reached for it twice and didn’t have a handle on it. I ate it.

“You can believe me or not on that. But there’s no point in rushing a throw when I don’t have a handle on the throw.”

Considering the way he’s thrown the ball to first -- in his last Wrigley start he spiked a throw and it somehow reached first baseman Anthony Rizzo on two hops to get the runner -- that might have been a prudent decision.

Manager Joe Maddon, who appeared in the interview room before Lester, certainly didn’t seem to believe Lester couldn’t get a grip on the ball.

“He just chose not to throw it,” the manager said. “I mean, he got confused. He just held onto it. He took the sack.”

Sensing it could be a seminal moment, Maddon visited the mound before another pitch was thrown.

“I just wanted him to understand the way that batting order was set up after that he was in good shape,” he said. “I know the play can mess with your head a little bit but you’re still in good shape. Regardless of your level of experience, when something like that happens you will get out of your normal thought pattern.”

Lester regrouped to strike out Drew Stubbs swinging for the first out and then got pinch hitter Jace Peterson looking at a called third strike for the second out. He then escaped without any damage by getting Nick Markakis to ground out to Rizzo to end the inning -- on his 106th pitch of the game.

“Obviously, when the manager comes out, it’s one of two things,” Lester said. “You’re either getting taken out of the game or he’s giving you a pep talk. I think, for me, that was kind of a nice break right there to kind of -- for everybody in that inning -- clear your head and get back to focusing on one pitch and one batter.

“Obviously, that’s a big inning, because if they get a hit there, or even a walk, the momentum is on their side. We get out of that and we had a good bottom of the seventh and I feel like that momentum carried over into the eighth.”

Everything worked out Friday. Down the road, when the opponent isn’t the 5-18 Braves, maybe Lester won’t be able to overcome “taking a sack” and providing an extra out in a key part of the game.