MIAMI – Julio Teheran had as many extra-base hits as he allowed Friday night against the Marlins, and that was just one of the reasons it was another impressive night for the Braves' budding ace.
Teheran clamped down after Giancarlo Stanton’s two-run homer in the first inning, and the Braves eventually broke through against Marlins starter Tom Koehler for a 3-2 comeback win in the series opener, snapping a four-game losing streak and moved them back into sole possession of first place in the National League East.
Teheran (5-3) won his third consecutive start, allowing five hits, two runs and one walk in 7-1/3 innings and also scoring the tying run after hitting a leadoff double in the seventh inning, his second hit of the night. Jason Heyward tripled to drive him in and B.J. Upton’s sacrifice fly scored Heyward for a 3-2 lead.
Craig Kimbrel pitched a perfect ninth inning with for his 153rd career save, one from equaling John Smoltz’s franchise record. He has 14 this season.
The upstart Marlins pounded Atlanta pitchers during a three-game sweep of the Braves at Marlins Park a month ago, and the two teams were tied for first place entering Friday’s series opener.
For most of the night, it looked like Stanton’s mammoth first-inning homer might be enough for the Marlins and Koehler (4-5). The early innings were a continuation of the Braves’ offensive woes in the past three games in their four-game home-and-home skid against the Red Sox this week.
After Heyward singled on the first pitch of the night and B.J. Upton singled to put runners at first and second with none out, Freddie Freeman struck out on three pitches and Justin Upton grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Freeman struck out in each of his first three at-bats and went 0-for-4 to remain hitless in 28 at-bats against the Marlins this season, with one walk and 12 strikeouts. He’s hit .347 with nine homers and 29 RBIs in 47 games against everyone else.
He’s been the Braves’ best hitter with runners in scoring position for the past couple of seasons, but Freeman has gone cold lately in those situations. He ended a nine-game RBI drought when he doubled in a run Thursday at Boston after a B.J. Upton single, but he hasn’t had a hit with a runner in scoring position in nearly two weeks.
The Braves were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position through the first five innings, after going 3-for-24 in the last three of their four losses to the Red Sox this week.
They broke through in the sixth inning after a leadoff walk by Justin Upton and single from Evan Gattis, who hit the first pitch after being hit by pitches in each of his previous two at-bats. Chris Johnson singled through the left side of the infield to cut the Marlins’ lead to 2-1, before Simmons lined into a double play with Gattis caught off second base.
Teheran pitched 15 scoreless innings in his past two starts before Friday, when Stanton abruptly ended that streak in spectacular fashion with a mammoth homer to straightaway center field in the first inning, a 450-foot drive that was the fifth of Stanton’s 16 homers this season to travel at least that far.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, no other team has as many 450-foot homers as Stanton has by himself. The Marlins strongman, after hitting one foul that was even longer, connected flush with a hanging slider on a 1-and-2 count, driving the ball over the black batter’s-eye wall behind and above the high fence near the 418 (feet) sign.
But after that, Teheran was in control. The Marlins didn’t have more than one baserunner in any other inning against him, and Teheran retired 12 consecutive batters before Adeiny Hechavarria’s infield single to start the eighth inning.
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