SAN DIEGO – Being a superstitious sort, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez cringed Monday afternoon when a reporter asked about Atlanta's streak of nine consecutive games with two or fewer earned runs allowed by starting pitchers.
Hours later, that streak was over and the Braves and Julio Teheran were on their way to a 7-6 loss against the Padres, but not before Evan Gattis and Jason Heyward made things real interesting with ninth-inning homers.
Gattis hit a three-run homer and Heyward hit his second homer of the game, a two-out shot to straightaway center, before Justin Upton struck out looking to end the Braves’ third loss in five games on a seven-game trip.
“Really, really proud of this team,” said Heyward, who had his fourth multi-homer game and first this season. “We’ve got a really good team. We didn’t quit, don’t quit. We have a lot of fun, and we pride ourselves on that. That’s an example of it right there.”
The homer for Gattis was the rookie slugger’s 14th and, remarkably, his fourth in eight pinch-hit at-bats.
“We kept fighting,” said Gattis, who tied Upton for the team home run lead, in 156 at-bats to Upton’s 224. “Lucky I got the homer, and then Heyward with another one, and we were one swing away from tying it. Too little, too late. But we made a push, and we did a good job of battling back.”
Gattis is an astounding 6-for-8 with a double and four homers as a pinch-hitter, already tied for the second-most pinch homers in a season in franchise history, behind Butch Niemann’s five in 1945.
“Fourth pinch-hit home run — I don’t know what to tell you there,” Gonzalez said. “Keep running him out there when you get a situation. His swing works. We’ve talked about it, his swing works. It’s a short swing and he’s a big, strong man. So, stuff like that can happen.”
Five days after Teheran took a no-hitter to the eighth inning against Pittsburgh, the rookie allowed six hits and five runs in six innings against the Padres, including two homers. It was the worst start for Teheran (4-3) since his season debut against the Cubs on April 6, when he allowed eight hits and five runs in five innings.
“I was missing a little bit in the zone,” Teheran said. “Couple of mistakes. But I feel good. My arm felt good.”
Heyward hit an eighth-inning homer and Upton had two hits including a double for his first extra-base hit in 14 games, which was just about the extent of the highlights for the Braves until they put a serious scare in the Padres with their ninth-inning longballs.
Heyward is 12-for-29 (.414) with two doubles and three homers in a seven-game hitting streak, including five multi-hit games.
“Yeah, that’s some good stuff there,” Heyward said after hitting his fourth and fifth homers of the season. “Glad to contribute, man. Take some weight off other guys and produce in this lineup.”
Two seventh-inning runs allowed by Braves reliever Cory Gearrin proved to be critical. The rookie sidearmer has allowed six runs and five hits in 2-1/3 innings during his two appearances on the trip.
Ex-Brave Jason Marquis (8-2) won his seventh consecutive decision for the Padres, allowing two runs in 7-2/3 innings on five hits and five walks. He is 7-0 in his past nine starts despite having almost as many walks (33) as strikeouts (35) in that span.
Teheran drove in the Braves’ only other run with a fifth-inning groundout, after Chris Johnson walked and advanced on B.J. Upton’s single. By then, the Padres had built a 5-0 lead.
The Braves posted a 1.42 ERA while winning seven of their first nine June games before Monday, lowering their overall ERA to a majors-best 3.14. But their run of strong starts ended when Teheran gave up a run in each of the first two innings and a three-run homer in the fourth by Will Venable.
Braves starters had allowed only three earned runs in 35 innings (0.77 ERA) over the previous five games, and their nine consecutive starts with two or fewer earned runs matched the longest such streak for Atlanta in 12 years.
The last time Braves pitchers had 10 consecutive starts of two earned runs or fewer was April 2001, when it was done by Greg Maddux, John Burkett, Tom Glavine, Kevin Millwood and Odalis Perez. The current bunch figured to have a good shot at matching them on Monday with Teheran on the mound.
He had carved an impressive 2.13 ERA in his past eight starts, and pitched 7-2/3 hitless innings against Pittsburgh before giving up a single. That was his only hit allowed in eight scoreless innings, and Teheran collected a career-high 11 strikeouts against the Pirates. He had three strikeouts Monday.
“Sometimes I think our expectations of Teheran are for him to go out every time and pitch seven shutout innings,” Gonzalez said. “I know he took a no-hitter into the eighth, and sometimes you have four or five good ones and you’re going to have one like this.”
After coming within four outs of a no-hitter Wednesday, Teheran gave up a triple to the second Padre he faced, Alexi Amarista. Chase Headley followed with a groundout to score Amarista.
Logan Forsyth homered with two out in the second inning against Teheran, and the Padres took a seemingly comfortable lead in the fourth on a three-run homer by Will Venable.
Teheran had not given up two homers in a game since his third start. He gave up five homers in his first three starts, but just three homers in 55 innings over his past eight before Monday.
After consecutive one-out singles by Carlos Quentin and Kyle Blanks in the fourth, Teheran got ahead in the count 0-2 against Venable, who took a pitch and fouled off two more. He homered on the next, an 83-mph slider, Venable’s sixth home run in 24 career games against the Braves.
“I just tried to throw (the pitch) to his back foot and I missed with that slider,” Teheran said. “I felt like I was missing more in the strike zone, a little bit up. Even with my two-seamer, all my pitches were up. I don’t know why, but I tried to make an adjustment. I can usually make adjustments, but I don’t know what happened today.”
