Shelby Miller has struggled to an almost inexplicable degree in his first season with Arizona, but Saturday night he faced his former Braves team, which is well into the second month of its own nightmare.
One of those struggling parties found a respite from doom and gloom. It wasn’t the Braves.
They blew an early two-run lead and Julio Teheran remained winless after a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks at Turner Field, dropping the Braves to 7-22 overall and a close-your-eyes 1-14 at home.
"It was going to be a turning point for one of us, it was either going to be him or us. Unfortunately it was him," said Freddie Freeman, whose fourth home run and third in nine games was a lone bright spot for the Braves.
How bad can it get? Here’s now bad so far: The Braves are the first team to lose 13 of their first 14 home games since the 1913 Yankees. It’s the worst start in franchise history through 29 games.
Miller (1-3) entered with a 8.49 ERA that would’ve been the worst among major league starters, only he didn’t have enough innings to qualify because he’d been knocked out so early in most starts.
Against his former team, he got a win in his seventh start of the season, surviving early control problems and lasting six innings while allowing four hits, two runs and two walks. It was just the second time he worked more than five innings.
“He battled himself out there a little bit,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “It wasn’t the prettiest performance that we’ve seen. But he got the outs, he made the pitches when he had to.”
Asked whether the Braves let Miller off the hook early, Gonzalez said, “Couple times. But that’s the way we’re going right now.”
Miller had a 3.02 ERA for the Braves in 2015 but only a 6-17 record, and Saturday’s win was his fifth in 20 starts (15 decisions) at Turner Field. He’s 4-1 with a 2.05 ERA in five starts against the Braves, the first four with St. Louis.
Braves reliever Bud Norris (1-5) gave up the go-ahead run in the sixth inning when he walked the first batter and allowed an RBI double to the next, Brandon Drury.
Teheran was replaced after throwing 101 pitches in five innings and giving up five hits, two runs (one earned) and two walks. He got no decision and remained 0-3 in seven starts, including 0-1 with a 1.48 ERA in his past four.
Teheran is 2-4 with a 2.58 ERA in 13 starts since Sept. 1, and the Braves scored two or fewer while he was in 10 of those.
Freeman gave the Braves a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a two-out homer on the first pitch he saw from Miller, a 92-mph belt-high fastball. It was Freeman’s 17th hit and seventh extra-base hit (third homer) in the past 11 games, a period in which he’s hit .425 after batting .177 in his first 17 games.
The Braves extended the lead to 2-0 in the second inning on Mallex Smith’s sacrifice fly. But they had an opportunity to do more damage against Miller after loading the bases with none out in that inning on a leadoff bunt single from Reid Brignac, a hit-by-pitch and a Daniel Castro walk.
Teheran, batting eighth — the new norm with Smith in the lineup – hit an infield fly for the first out, and Smith followed with his fly-out for a 2-0 lead. Nick Markakis grounded out with two on to end the inning.
Before Saturday, Miller had allowed a .409 average (9-for-22) and 10 walks with runners in scoring position.
The Braves had another scoring opportunity in the third when Ender Inciarte, in his first game after a month on the disabled list for a hamstring injury, drew a leadoff walk. Freeman followed with an opposite-field fly that looked like it might get out to give the Braves another two-run lead, but it was caught a step in front of the left-field wall. A.J. Pierzynski followed by grounding into an inning-ending double play.
