PHILADELPHIA – While Ryan Howard breaking up Julio Teheran's no-hit bid with a fifth-inning infield single was highly improbable, Evan Gattis hitting a home run at Citizens Bank Park was, at this point, entirely predictable.
Gattis’ career-high four hits included his fifth homer in his past three games at Philadelphia, a leadoff shot in the fourth inning that broke a scoreless tie and sent Teheran and the Braves to a 1-0 win Wednesday, their fifth in a row.
Teheran pitched brilliantly in his first complete game, a three-hitter with four strikeouts and no walks, while Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee also pitched a complete game and had 13 strikeouts and a whopping 128 pitches.
“That’s just good old-fashioned hardball right there,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, who didn’t hesitate to let Teheran hit for himself in the eighth inning after already throwing 99 pitches. “His outing was so dominant that he deserved to go out there — even if it was a 1-nothing game — to go out there to finish it.”
Teheran (2-1) allowed only one base runner until Carlos Ruiz’s two-out single in the eighth, and then induced a game-ending groundout by Chase Utley after falling behind in the count 3-0 against the major league batting leader — and with a runner at second after Jimmy Rollins’ two-out single and stolen base.
“That’s him to the core,” Gattis said of Teheran’s ninth-inning work. “He’s fiery. He’s a competitor. He’s a winner.”
The win clinched the series at a place where Atlanta’s bearded, burly catcher has become a menace to the Phillies.
Gattis had four of the Braves’ 13 hits against veteran Lee (2-2), who walked just one, yet made one costly mistake on a night when he couldn’t afford one against Teheran.
“I didn’t pay attention to who I was facing,” Teheran said. “I was just concentrating on the hitters. That’s what I did the whole game, just concentrate on what I wanted to throw and throw it for a strike, don’t make a mistake.”
Gonzalez said his stomach was churning with Utley up in the ninth, but he let Teheran finish and was thrilled for the 23-year-old budding ace.
“Julio was terrific,” he said. “To navigate through a dominant hitting left-handed lineup, a good one. Even the last pitch he threw to Utley was a really good pitch. For his first career complete game, to make it a 1-nothing win against that lineup in this ballpark – you can’t ask for anything more.”
Lee became the first pitcher to strike out 13 in a 1-0 loss since he did himself against the Braves in his last start against them in 2013. He pitched complete games in both. He has a staggering 126 strikeouts and eight walks in 108 2/3 career innings against the Braves, but is just 7-7 with a 2.65 ERA in those 16 starts.
“I still think he’s the best lefty starter in the game,” Gattis said.
Teheran retired the first 12 Phillies before Howard chugged to first base to beat out a chopped single to the right side of the infield to start the fifth inning. With the Braves employing a defensive shift against the dead-pull hitter, Chris Johnson fielded Howard’s high-bouncer and shoveled the ball to first base with his glove in one motion. The play wasn’t very close.
The big, gimpy first baseman had broken up the no-no, but the Phillies got nothing else against Teheran until two out in the eighth. Teheran threw 75 strikes in 115 pitches, and by going the distance he gave the Braves’ bullpen some welcome rest.
“What he did tonight was something special,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “Gatty behind the plate was putting the right fingers down — and picked us up, too, offensively.”
Teheran was in control all the way on a night when the temperature fell to 43 degrees by the seventh inning. David Carpenter began warming up in the ninth inning, but closer Craig Kimbrel got his fourth day of rest since feeling soreness in his pitching shoulder in Saturday’s game. Gonzalez wouldn’t say if he’d use Kimbrel in Thursday’s series finale.
Before Wednesday, all four of Gattis’ hits in 20 at-bats at Citizens Bank Park had been home runs, including a two-homer game in Monday’s series opener. (Tuesday’s game was rained out). His second-inning single ended the all-or-nothing streak, and Gattis added a leadoff single in the sixth and two-out single in the eighth to complete his 4-for-4 performance.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, he’s first player to go 4-for-4 or better with a HR in a 1-0 win since Rogers Hornsby in 1929. Gattis said he likes the batter’s eye backdrop in center field at the Philadelphia ballpark.
“It’s just wide open,” he said. “So maybe I see (the ball) better here. Maybe not. I really don’t know.”
Gattis also had two-homer game Sept. 8 against Cole Hamels, including a 486-foot homer to straightaway center field that was easily the longest homer in the majors last season and longest by a Brave in the past nine years.
His fourth-inning homer sailed just over the outstretched glove of left fielder Dominic Brown. Phillies fans were stunned: Gattis again.
He has 14 hits, six homers and 11 RBIs in his past seven games — home and away — against Philadelphia, and seven homers in 12 career games against them. He was asked if he knew Wednesday’s homer would clear the fence after he hit it.
“No. I don’t know if you could tell, but I was running really, really fast,” he said, smiling. “I ran just in case maybe something happened. I was moving it – for me.”
That Gattis, a former ski-lift operator whose nickname is El Oso Blanco – aka the White Bear — would excel in cold weather wasn’t surprising. But at this point neither should it be a surprise when Teheran is dominant in chilly conditions.
Last season, the young Colombian allowed one run in seven innings of an April 23 win at Colorado in the second game of a doubleheader with the temperature below freezing. But Teheran took it to a whole new level Wednesday. He pitched like an ace, outperforming a pitcher who has been a bona fide ace for years.
“I’ve had a couple of good ones, but this was a pretty good game,” Teheran said, when asked if it was his best performance.
As for pitching in the cold weather, he said, “Yeah, I did a great job last year with the cold weather. That was my mindset in this game…. When I’ve got cold weather, try to focus on what I want to do and try to forget that I’m pitching in cold weather.”
Gattis has six homers in his past seven games overall against the Phillies. He had been 0-for-6 with four strikeouts against Lee before Wednesday, when Gattis continued to treat Citizens Bank Park as if it were a Little League field.
“It’s crazy,” Freeman said. “I guess he likes Philadelphia a little bit. But you could tell last week that he was starting to get the hang of things. He’s going up through the middle, his swing path’s through the zone a long time. So it’s no surprise what he’s doing.”
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