Teheran gets rocked in last start before opening day

CLEARWATER, Fla. – It wasn’t the kind of tune-up that Julio Teheran had in mind five days before the season opener, but neither the Braves ace and his manager seemed concerned by a four-homer beating he absorbed in four innings Wednesday against the Phillies.

Teheran gave up eight hits and seven runs in four innings of a 9-2 Grapefruit League loss at Brighthouse Field, including a pair of homers by Chase Utley in the first and third innings. The right-hander starts opening day Monday against the Marlins in Miami.

“I felt really good,” Teheran said of Thursday’s outing. “I’m not going to lie, I felt the best that I’ve felt in spring training. Talking about my arm. I felt really smooth, and that’s what I’ve been looking for the whole spring training. I really felt it today. Other than that, just a couple of mistakes that I made.

“All my pitches were working, but on the mistakes they were just swinging, and I paid for them.”

In addition to the home runs by Utley, who hasn’t homered in 18 career at-bats against him during regular-season play, Teheran also gave up consecutive homers in the fourth inning by Freddy Galvis and Rene Garcia, who between them had one homer in 75 spring-training at-bats before Thursday.

Teheran gave up 22 hits and 16 runs (15 earned) in 13 innings over his final three Grapefruit League starts to finish with an 8.00 ERA in five starts.

“He left some pitches up and they swung the bats,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez sid. “He got his four innings in, got his pitch count where we wanted it to be. It might have been one of those starts at the end of spring and he’s ready to go (to the regular season) and maybe the focus wasn’t there like we wanted it to be. When that happens and you’ve got guys like Chase Utley and Ryan Howard and that group, you’re going to pay for it. They don’t care if you’re playing a backyard scrimmage game or a regular season game, you better bring the lunch pail.”