CINCINNATI — One of the confounding things about the 2017 Braves is how their All-Star pitcher, Julio Teheran, has been so much better on the road than at home.
Teheran wasn’t effective on the road Sunday but it hardly mattered because Braves hitters bashed enough balls for a 13-8 victory over the Reds. The Braves won the weekend series and finished 4-5 on their trip before returning to SunTrust Park to begin an eight-game home stand on Monday.
The Braves hit three early home runs against left-hander Amir Garrett for a 9-2 lead and totaled eight extra-base hits for the game. Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte hit a career-high five RBIs, including a three-run homer, and Danny Santana had a homer and two doubles.
“It’s good to have an offensive day and the good thing is we kept scoring,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “There is no lead safe here. I’ve been a part of too many weird games here at this ballpark.”
The Reds matched the Braves with three home runs: two against Teheran, and Zack Cozart’s solo shot against reliever Jason Motte in the sixth inning that made it 11-8. But it turned out the Braves scored all of the runs they needed against Garrett, who was activated from the disabled list before the game.
Santana hit a two-run homer in the second inning, Matt Adams hit a solo shot in the second and Inciarte chased Garrett with hit his two-out, three-run homer in the third. Santana’s home run traveled 385 feet, Adams followed his 426-foot grand slam on Saturday with a 394-foot shot and Inciarte hit his homer 405 feet.
Inciarte went 0-for-6 against the Reds on Saturday and followed it up with his second five-hit game over the past 13.
“You get a game like this, of course it feels good,” Inciarte said. “You try not to think about it. Tomorrow is a new day and you shouldn’t even be thinking about today. It was good to get the win. I enjoyed what I did today to help the team and hopefully tomorrow we will carry it (over) and score a lot of runs against the Phillies, too.”
The three Braves home runs, plus Teheran’s sacrifice fly, ballooned the lead to 9-2. When the Reds pulled within 9-5 in the fourth, the Braves extended it with two runs in the fifth. Arismendy Alcantara hit a two-run homer against Teheran in the fifth inning and Cozart’s second homer of the game got the Reds within 11-8.
Teheran’s 1.42 ERA in his five previous starts ranked second-best in the majors entering Sunday while his 8.40 ERA in five starts at SunTrust Park was the worst in the big leagues. He gave up seven earned runs over five innings against the Reds after he hadn’t allowed more than three runs in his previous five road starts.
“Obviously it was a battle,” Teheran said. “It wasn’t like I threw the ball pretty good. But we still (won) the game. The offense was big today.
A failed defensive gamble by Inciarte helped the Reds cut the lead to 9-5 in the fourth.
Teheran opened the door when relief pitcher Jake Buchanan poked his 0-2 slider for an RBI on his first hit in the big leagues. With two outs and two base runners, Zack Cozart hit a line drive that arched downward as it headed to center field.
Inciarte sprinted forward and made a diving attempt to catch the ball but missed it. The ball rolled past him and settled near the warning track for a two-run triple.
“I normally make those plays. It feels bad (not) to make it in that situation, especially after Julio is having a rough inning right there. That ball was a knuckleball and it moved too much at the end.
Inciarte later made two running catches in each of the outfield gaps. The Braves continued to score runs to hold off the Reds.
Johan Camargo and Dansby Swanson delivered RBIs in the fifth. Santana added an RBI double in the ninth and Inciarte scored him with a single.
“It’s good to score runs, especially after the last couple days we struggled to score runs,” Inciarte said. “Today we scored a lot of runs. It’s good to do every once in a while and back up our pitchers.”
