The ups
The Braves took three of four games from the NL Central-leading Brewers, winning just their second series out of their past seven.
Julio Teheran, 23, became the youngest Braves pitcher in 22 years to throw two shutouts in one season when he blanked Milwaukee 5-0 on Tuesday night. Steve Avery, then 22, threw also threw two shutouts in 1992.
Have yourself a week, Justin Upton. In his previous five games entering the weekend, the left fielder was 8-for-17 (.471) with two doubles, three homers and seven RBIs. He brought up his seasonal average 21 points to .294.
The downs
Tragedy was averted when a young unidentified fan attending his first game Monday night was struck in the head by a line-drive foul ball off the bat of Milwaukee’s Carlos Gomez. Though hospitalized, he was released Thursday after receiving visits from several players, including Gomez.
Just when Tyler Pastornicky was picking up steam as Dan Uggla’s replacement at second base — 4-for-12 in four starts — he was sidelined all week by a strained calf.
Hot
RF Jason Heyward took an 10-game hitting streak into the weekend. He had 14 hits — 13 singles and a homer — in 37 at-bats (.368).
Overshadowed by the starting rotation, Atlanta’s bullpen opened the Colorado series having has allowed 11 of 59 inherited runners to score. That 19 percent ratio was best in the NL. Its 79-percent save percentage (15-for-19) was second only to San Diego.
1B Freddie Freeman entered the weekend with six multi-hit games in his past 16 games.
Not
C Evan Gattis entered the weekend in a 2-for-14 slide. He was hitting .208 this month after hitting .270 in April. And he’s been sick.
Paging Ervin Santana. After going 4-0 with a 1.99 in his first six starts, Santana has face-planted in his past two, giving up 11 runs on 19 hits in 12 innings.
Questions
1) Did Heyward really hit a single in a game that had been over for 10 days?
2) Could it be that B.J. Upton is snapping out of it?
Answers
1) MLB executive vice president Joe Torre overturned an official scorer’s called error against 1B Michael Morse on a Heyward grounder that hit first base in San Francisco on May 12. Corrected line: 1-for-2 with two walks.
2) Um, no. In April, Upton hit .213 and struck out once every 3.1 at-bats. In May, he entered the weekend hitting .180 with one strikeout every 2.3 at-bats.
Thoughts
As case can be built that Teheran is developing into a No. 1 starter before our very eyes. In his first 22 appearances in the majors dating to five games in 2011, he went 8-6 with a 3.69 ERA. Since last year’s All-Star break, he is 10-6 with a 2.46 ERA. His hits allowed per nine innings has dropped from 9.2 to 6.7 while his strikeout rate has jumped from 7.1 to 8.2. Plus he’s stronger. His opponents’ average allowed after the sixth inning is just .136.
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