SEATTLE – Julio Teheran blew an early 3-1 lead and the reeling Braves lost again Wednesday against the Mariners to complete a winless eight-game road trip, a slog the likes of which the franchise had not experienced since Del Crandall was a 19-year-old rookie catcher and the pitching staff featured Spahn and Sain.
Their 7-3 loss at Safeco Field left the Braves winless in Seattle — after going winless at Los Angeles and San Diego – and capped just the second all-losing road trip of eight games or more in franchise history and first since an 0-8 trip by the 1949 Boston Braves.
“I don’t think you could ever imagine going winless on a road trip,” said first baseman Freddie Freeman, who had three hits including a two-run double for a short-lived 3-1 lead in the third inning. “But we’re not too far out of it, and again we’ve got a chance to get back into it this weekend.
“It’s going to be a long flight, but we’ll regroup, get some rest, and we’ve got to come out firing on Friday.”
The Braves, whose eight-game losing streak is their longest since an eight-game skid in May 2012, have an off day Thursday before a critical 1o-game homestand against three first place teams — the Nationals, Dodgers, and Athletics — beginning with a three-game series against National League East leader Washington on Friday.
They trailed Washington by 3 1/2 games before the Nationals’ Wednesday night game against the Mets.
“I told them after the game that we’re a better team than we’ve played on the road, and for them to get on this (airplane) and get back home and start a winning streak,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose team has lost 18 of 27 games. “We’ve got to go back home and start winning series again. We can’t worry about the next two, we’ve got a big series against Washington this weekend.
“Believe me we’re better than what we’ve played here in the last eight days.”
The Braves had better prove it soon, or else they could find themselves a handful of games out of both the division race and the wild-card standings by next week.
“It’s definitely a crucial point in the season, but nothing’s over yet,” right fielder Jason Heyward said. “We’re going into August in the thick of it right now, and this month is going to say a lot about where we finish up.”
The staggering Braves need to get it together for a homestand that begins with Alumni Weekend, during which they will honor new Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Bobby Cox, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. That trio was never part of a winless trip as long as the one the Braves just stumbled through.
In fact, no other team in the nearly 140-year history of the franchise ever was, except those ‘49 Braves.
The ‘49 Braves team had 21-game winner Warren Spahn but not much in the way of offense. The current Braves have a dysfunctional offense and a pitching staff led by Teheran (10-8), who has not been nearly as good on the road as at home.
He failed to hold a 3-1 lead for even one inning Wednesday and gave up six runs and nine hits in six innings, slipping to 2-5 with a 5.64 ERA in his past seven road starts.
“It’s just not matching up right now, it’s just not clicking on all cylinders at the same time for us.” Heyward said. “That’s going to hurt when teams are going up there putting up (good) at-bats, swinging the bat well. It’s tough to play catch-up. Today we did some good things at the plate. Julio just had an off day. That’s unfortunate.
“He got a little run support and usually he doesn’t need much.”
The Braves Braves have scored three runs or fewer 17 times during their 9-18 stretch, including each of the last seven games of the road trip. They totaled 18 runs and two homers on the trip and didn’t homer in the last six games.
Now they face a potentially make-or-break homestand, with the Nationals series to be followed by four games against the Dodgers and three against the Athletics, who have baseball’s best record and another loaded pitching staff.
After blowing a 1-0 lead and giving up three unearned runs in a 4-2 loss against Seattle ace Felix Hernandez in Tuesday’s series opener, the Braves took a 3-1 lead in the third inning Wednesday on Tommy La Stella’s two-out, bases-loaded walk and Freeman’s double.
Teheran gave the lead back, and then some, in the bottom of the inning by allowing four runs on four hits including home runs by Dustin Ackley and Logan Morrison, the latter a three-run shot with two out.
“That was a big blow there,” Gonzalez said of Morrison’s homer. “We scored three there in the third and didn’t get a shutdown (inning) with one of our best pitchers on the mound. To get a shutdown, that’s what we always talk about. That didn’t happen. Gave the momentum right back to Seattle.”
Ackley homered on a 1-2 slider to start the inning after Teheran had gotten ahead in the count 0-2.
“I didn’t have my best location,” Teheran said. “I just tried to do my job and I wasn’t able to do it today, even after I got run support I wasn’t able to keep the lead.”
He’s 6-7 with 4.27 ERA in 13 road starts, compared to 4-1 with 1.48 ERA in 11 home starts.
“I don’t know what to say about that,” said Teheran, who has a 5.20 ERA in his past 10 road starts. “Sometimes at home you feel more comfortable because you have the fans and stuff. I try to do the same stuff at home and away, I don’t know why it happens.”
He has complained of problems gripping the ball in some previous starts on the West Coast, but said that wasn’t an issue Wednesday. In his other start on the trip, Teheran allowed only two runs in eight innings of a 2-1 loss Thursday against the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw.
After not scoring until the ninth inning of that game Thursday, the Braves provided a lead for Teheran Wednesday.
“It’s hard to win when you only have one good inning,” Freeman said. “It was nice to see when we had some guys on we were able to get them in, but that wasn’t enough.”
