When the Braves scored three runs in the first inning Wednesday against the Mets, Julio Teheran might’ve needed to pinch himself before heading back out to the mound. This kind of thing hasn’t happened often for the Braves ace, who might easily have another four or five wins this season if it did.
Chris Johnson’s two-out, three-run double and another splendid performance from Teheran propelled the the Braves past the Mets 3-1 win at Turner Field, pushing their season-high winning streak to seven games and completing a three-game sweep of the reeling Metropolitans.
“We’re doing a great job and everybody is doing the little things,” said Teheran (8-5), who allowed four hits, one run and three walks with five strikeouts in seven innings, lowering his ERA to 2.29. “We’ve just got to continue doing that and we’re going to be fine at the end.”
All eight Braves runs in the past two wins against the Mets came with two outs, and none came via a home run.
“It means we’re not giving up,” Johnson said of the two-out hits. “Just because it’s two outs doesn’t mean we can’t get some runs on the board. And there’s really no quit in this team. I’m not surprised by that.”
Despite going into the game intent on resting some key relievers including closer Craig Kimbrel, Shae Simmons and Luis Avilan, the Braves bullpen didn’t miss a beat. Anthony Varvaro pitched a scoreless eighth and Jordan Walden worked a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts for his third save.
Teheran shook off the sting of a one-hopper that hit him near the right shin in the fourth inning and notched his fifth consecutive home start with one or no runs allowed. His major league-leading home ERA actually rose from 1.22 to 1.23, which says plenty about how dominant he’s been in Atlanta, allowing one or no runs in seven of his nine starts.
“Any time you give Julio some run support it’s a really good thing for the Braves,” Johnson said. “Hopefully he goes to the All-Star game.”
Braves manager was initially concerned after Eric Campbell’s fourth-inning single caromed off Teheran’s leg.
“I thought I was going to have to get him out of there, but he battled and gave us seven strong innings,” Gonzalez said. “Those last two innings it was a gut check. He got himself into trouble and he made some great pitches to (Kirk) Nieuwenhuis in the seventh inning to get the big punch-out there to end that inning.
“We gave him three runs in the early in the game and he made it hold up.”
The Braves scored two or fewer runs while Teheran was in nine of his 17 starts before Wednesday, explaining his modest record despite an ERA that ranked fourth among National League starters. His run support — 3.1 runs per nine innings pitched — was the fifth-lowest among NL starters.
They scored two or fewer runs while he was in five of his previous eight home starts, hence a 2-1 home record before Wednesday despite the microscopic ERA. He’s had no decisions in home games in which he allowed no runs and three hits in eight innings, one run and one hit in eight innings, and four hits and one run in eight innings.
So when the Braves scored three in the first inning, it probably felt like an embarrassment of riches for their Colombian ace, who retired the first nine batters before Eric Young Jr.’s leadoff single in the fourth inning.
“I am just glad the first inning I got the support of my team,” Teheran said. “That’s something that motivated me.”
The Braves loaded the bases with none out in the first against rookie Jacob deGrom (1-5), filling them with a leadoff single by B.J. Upton — extending his hitting streak to nine games — and consecutive walks by Andrelton Simmons and Freddie Freeman.
When Justin Upton struck out and Jason Heyward flied out too shallow to tag up at third, it seemed the Braves might waste the opportunity like so many others earlier this season. But they’ve crafted a different narrative in those situations lately, and Johnson kept it going when he doubled past third baseman Eric Campbell’s back-handed fielding attempt.
Johnson’s hit, on a seven-pitch at-bat after fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches, skipped toward the corner and Braves raced around the bases for a 3-0 lead.
“I think we did a really good before I came up, seeing a lot of pitches,” Johnson said. “We haven’t seen him before, so it was nice to see some pitches, see all of what he had, then I was able to get a ball out over the plate and luckily got it down the line.”
Young’s leadoff single in the fourth provided the Mets with their first base runner. A popped-up bunt attempt, a walk and a wild pitch later, Curtis Granderson hit a sacrifice fly to cut the Braves’ lead to 3-1. Campbell the hit a hard one-hop single that caromed off Teheran’s right leg near the shin, and the pitcher was attended to by a Braves trainer.
Teheran threw a couple of warm-up pitches to show that he was OK to continue, then got Lucas Duda to fly out to end the inning with two on.
“I wanted to stay in the game so bad and keep pitching,” he said. “It’s pretty sore right now but during the game I didn’t feel it. I tried to stay focused in my game.”
Young also led off the sixth with a single, but was caught in a rundown after a pickoff by Teheran. Juan Lagares followed with a single before Teheran struck out Daniel Murphy, walked Granderson and struck out Campbell to end the inning.
DeGrom settled down after the first and allowed four hits and no walks over the rest of his five-inning stint. The only time the Braves had two runners on against him after the first inning came on consecutive two-out singles by Heyward and Johnson in the third inning. Tommy La Stella flied out a step in front of the warning track to end that threat.
The Braves failed to score after getting a runner at third with one out in the fifth. Simmons led off with an infield single, stole second and went to third on Freeman’s long fly out. DeGrom struck out Justin Upton and Heyward to end the inning.
The Braves won again without hitting a ball out of the park, continuing a recent trade. After collecting just 11 wins without a homer in their first 79 games, the Braves have five such wins in their past six games.
“We’re always going to hit home runs; we’ve got guys on the team who hit a lot of home runs,” Johnson said. “So it’s nice to show that we can win games the other way. I think it’s a confidence booster for us, knowing that we don’t have to hit that two-, three-run home run to get a bunch of runs. That inning we got some walks and were able to get on base and come up with a big two-out hit.”
And with Teheran pitching, that was enough.
