The Braves had done little against Mets right-hander Matt Harvey but manager Fredi Gonzalez turned to bench coach Carlos Tosca and made a prediction as catcher Ryan Lavarnway went up to bat in the seventh inning on Sunday.
“I said, ‘He’s going to hit a double here and make me make a decision,’” Gonzalez said. “That’s just the baseball gods.”
Sure enough, Lavarnway smacked a double off the wall in left-center. Up next was starting pitcher Julio Teheran, who had allowed just one hit through seven innings while throwing only 78 pitches.
Should Gonzalez let Teheran hit and take the mound for the eighth inning? Or should he send up a pinch hitter, hope for a run and then let the bullpen try and finish off the Mets?
Gonzalez decided to go with pinch hitter Pedro Ciriaco, who knocked an RBI single against Harvey that lifted the Braves to a 1-0 victory at Turner Field. The Braves (35-35) swept the three-game series against the Mets (36-25) to gain ground on them in the NL East.
In the end, Gonzalez’s decision to try to squeeze out a run against Harvey (7-5) rather than get another inning or two from Teheran (5-3) paid off.
“I know for sure if it was a man on first base, I would have let Julio hit,” Gonzalez said. “But once we get into scoring position, we’ve got to take a shot at it. And we did and ‘Pete’ made me look good.”
The Braves won four of five games during the home stand, which included a two-game split against the Red Sox. Ciriaco had key hits during three of those victories.
During the 5-2 victory against the Red Sox on Wednesday Ciriaco had two run-scoring singles that tied the score. Two days later Ciriaco had a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning and scored on Jace Peterson’s two-run double as the Braves came back to beat the Mets 2-1.
In 25 games with the Braves Ciriaco is batting .304 (14-for-46), including 4-for-13 as a pinch hitter.
“Nothing in this game is easy,” Ciriaco said. “I’m just trying to compete. I got a good pitch and I tried to make good contact. Trying to be relaxed and trying to see good pitch and try to put a good swing. I don’t try to do too much because when you put pressure on yourself, it’s not good. “
Ciriaco’s hit and two scoreless innings by Braves relief pitchers finished off Teheran’s most effective start of the year. It was a season-low for hits allowed by Teheran and his first scoreless outing since he blanked the Mets over six innings on May 3.
Teheran walked Curtis Granderson to lead off the game. He then retired the next 12 batters in a row before Wilmer Flores singled to lead off the fifth inning .
That’s as far as Flores got. Teheran retired Kevin Plawecki and then got Dilson Herrera to ground into a double play to end the inning having faced one more than the minimum 15 batters.
Teheran walked Granderson again with two outs in the sixth inning but struck out the next batter, Juan Lagares. Teheran retired the Mets in order in the seventh.
Teheran’s effort was what made Gonzalez’s decision to pinch hit for him so difficult. Lavarnway almost made it easier when his drive in the seventh inning just missed leaving the park and bounced off the yellow stripe that runs along to the top of the wall.
That prompted Gonzalez to call on Ciriaco.
“I know that was the opportunity to score with him,” Teheran said. “I mean, nothing I can do. I know they make the right decision.”
Ciriaco fought off Harvey’s 2-0 fastball and dropped it into shallow center field. Braves third-base coach Bo Porter was waiving Lavarnway home all the way to test center fielder Lagares, whose usual stellar defense has suffered because of elbow and rib cage injuries.
Lagares’ throw home was way off the mark and there was no play at the plate as Lavarnway scored and Teheran rejoiced from the dugout.
“He was great tonight,” Ciriaco said of Teheran. “He was pitching pretty good game and to do it for the team and do it for him, it’s pretty special.”
