LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Three weeks his scheduled start in the Braves’ season opener against the Washington Nationals, Julio Teheran pitched like someone worthy of the opening-day assignment.
Teheran pitched four crisp innings against the Tampa Bay Rays, allowing two hits and no walks with one strikeout in a 5-0 Braves win at Champion Stadium.
“He looked good, and I don’t know how (accurate) that gun is but I liked his velocity,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, referring to the stadium radar gun that clocked most of Teheran’s fastballs in the 92-93 mph range, topping out at 94. “I know he tried to stay in (with fastballs) on some of those left-handers, which was good to see. But yeah, he looked sharp. His breaking ball was good.”
In his second Grapefruit League game, Teheran needed just 35 pitches (28 strikes) to record 12 outs and faced two batters over the minimum.
“I felt really good, a lot better than last time,” said Teheran, who allowed three hits, two runs and a walk in three innings of his debut March 9 against the Astros. He also pitched in a minor league game before that.
“I was throwing strikes,” he said of Monday’s outing. “That was one of my goals for this game. All my pitches were pretty good. There were a couple of mistakes that I made, but still two weeks that I can work on it.”
The Rays came out swinging and Teheran didn’t try to nibble around the plate. “He pounded the strike zone,” Gonzalez said.
“Yeah, I knew they’re going to be swinging,” Teheran said. “What I can do was just throw strikes, and that’s what I was able to do, and command my other pitches. I felt really good.”
Facing a lineup with five left-handed hitters (including two switch-hitters), Teheran faced two batters over the minimum in four innings. Left-handers hit .300 with an .893 OPS against Teheran in 2015, compared to .207/.583 by right-handed hitters.
“Especially lefties, that’s what I want to concentrate more on this year,” said Teheran, who stressed working both sides of the plate, particularly against the lefties. “I don’t want to forget about righties, but more important is the lefties, and that’s what I’m going to concentrate on more this year.”
Lefty hitters were 2-for-7 against him Monday including a two-out single in the second inning by switch-hitter Nick Franklin, who was thrown out by center fielder Michael Bourn trying to stretch to a double.
James Loney’s two-out double in the fourth accounted for the only other base runner against Teheran.
“Left-handers have pretty good numbers against him, and it was just a fact of the ball kept running over the plate (in 2015),” Gonzalez said. “He kept trying to throw in on them and the ball would come right back over the middle of the plate. There were some games last year where he didn’t do that, and I think that’s his biggest thing.
“If you’re going to go in on those lefties, make sure the ball doesn’t run back over the plate. And it’s just a matter of a little bit of mechanics, not throwing the two-seamer in there, that kind of stuff.”
