There were three challenged and overturned umpire’s calls, a bunt that went for a pop-fly single to right field, eight walks issued by Braves pitchers, and the previously unimaginable site of an overweight, 41-year-old pitcher rumbling over to record an unassisted, inning-ending out by tagging a 38-year-old catcher attempting to steal a base.
Still, those occurrences during the Braves’ 6-3 loss to the sweep-clinching Mets weren’t as incredulous as this: The Mets completed a franchise-record 10-0 homestand to match a franchise-record 11-game winning streak and push their record to a majors-best 13-3, tying the best start in franchise history by the 1986 Mets.
Stop for a moment to wrap your brain around all that. The Mets. Amazin’.
Braves starter Julio Teheran did not pitch like an ace, walking the bases loaded in a three-run first inning. He matched a career-high with five walks — all before recording his ninth out — and needed 102 pitches to get through 4 1/3 innings, increasing the burden on a bullpen that’s buckling.
“I’m surprised we stayed close for as long as we did; they had base runners everywhere,” said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose Braves have lost six of eight since their 6-1 start. “Usually when you do that somebody’s doing to split a gap.”
After Teheran walked the bases loaded in the first inning, Daniel Murphy doubled on a ball that shot past right fielder Nick Markakis before he could cut it off, clearing the bases for a 3-0 lead.
The Braves came back to tie. They got a run in the second inning, when catcher A.J. Pierzynski scored from first base on Andrelton Simmons’ double after the Braves challenged and it was ruled that Anthony Recker blocked the plate. They added two runs in the fourth after loading the bases with none out.
But Teheran’s soaring early pitch count led to an early exit, and the bullpen couldn’t hold down the Mets, who’ve swept the Braves in two of the past three series between the teams, including a September set at Turner Field.
Teheran (2-1) cited problems gripping the ball, as he has a few times before in cool, dry weather, including his only other five-unintentional-walk game at San Francisco on May 14, 2014. He lasted 3 1/3 innings that day and managed to stick around for 4 1/3 innings Thursday despite throwing 77 pitches in the first three innings.
“He just didn’t look very comfortable,” Pierzynski said. “Even in warm-ups he was blowing on his hand more than you normally see. I don’t know if it was the grip. I don’t know what was going on. He’s not normally a guy that walks guys and doesn’t throw strikes.”
It was 48 degrees and windy at the first pitch. Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon, the unbeaten (4-0) relic, turned in a quality start (six innings, seven hits, three runs, no walks) and became the fourth 40-or-older pitcher in the past 80 years to win his first four starts in a season, including ex-Braves knuckleballer Phil Niekro in 1984 after he went to the Yankees.
“It was a real battle in the first inning with the weather,” said Teheran, charged with three hits, four runs and five walks with five strikeouts. “It was affecting me a little bit. I couldn’t find my grip. The last two innings I found a way to throw a strike, but I was deep in the pitch count (by then).”
Colon got stronger, retiring seven of the last eight batters he faced. Pierzynski was the only Brave to reach base in that span, on a two-out single in the sixth, and he was out when he tried to steal, thinking he could time it so he took off just as Colon was committing toward the plate to deliver the pitch. He took off too soon, and Colon had him dead to rights, opting to run straight toward Pierzynski, who didn’t bother to go through the motions of a rundown.
“I thought I could sneak (a stolen base).” Pierzynski said. “With Simba (Simmons) swinging the bat well, I was just trying to get in scoring position with two outs. He unfortunately held the ball longer than he had been the whole time. He had kind of got into a rhythm, I was just trying to time him up. If I had gone the pitch before, I probably would have made it. But he held it.
“Bartolo’s a veteran guy, he’s been around a long time, so he doesn’t panic. He just did what he’s supposed to do.”
The Braves were 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position Thursday and 3-for-17 while totaling six runs in the series.
Teheran blew on his hand warming up, but said he didn’t do it in the game until the third inning because for some reason he doesn’t like to. Pitchers usually are permitted to blow in their hands in cold-weather games.
“I don’t like to put my hands on my mouth, but that’s what I had to do today,” Teheran said.
He was replaced with a runner at second and one out in the fifth, after throwing 60 strikes in 102 pitches.
The score was 3-3, the Braves having tied it in the fourth after loading the bases with none out and pushing across two runs on a Simmons single and Jace Peterson sacrifice fly.
Teheran was replaced by rookie left-hander Ian Thomas, who walked the next batter, Lucas Duda. Ball 4 was a wild pitch, putting runners on the corners. Then he walked the next batter after that, Michael Cuddyer, on five pitches.
Thomas struck out Daniel Murphy before Gonzales brought in rookie Sugar Ray Marimon with bases loaded and two out. Marimon proceeded to walk Eric Campbell to bring in the go-ahead run.
The Mets tacked on two runs in the seventh after lefty Luis Avilan gave up consecutive singles to start the inning.
