After dominant performances in each of his previous two outings, Braves right-hander Julio Teheran was effective if not efficient against the Diamondbacks on Saturday at Turner Field.
Teheran managed to leave the Braves with a tie game after five innings, with one of his two runs unearned. The Braves went on to lose 4-2 because their offense continues to scuffle and Arizona added two ruins against the bullpen.
At least Teheran kept them in the game.
“He fought his delivery a little bit, he fought the location,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “But he competed and that’s all you can ask for right now.”
Teheran is 0-1 over his last four starts in spite of some effective outings. He posted a 1.48 ERA over 24 1/3 innings in those starts with 25 strikeouts and six walks.
In Chicago on Sunday Teheran limited the Cubs to zero runs and two hits over seven innings. The start before that the Red Sox got just one run over seven innings against Teheran.
Against the Diamondbacks Teheran frequently got ahead in counts but couldn’t finish off hitters, a pattern that ran his pitch count up to 101.
“It wasn’t like my last outing back in Chicago,” Teheran said. “It was a real battle. It was a different game. I got deep in the counts almost the whole game.”
The Diamondbacks were behind 2-0 after two innings. They scored both of their runs against Teheran in the third inning, aided by an error by shortstop Erick Aybar.
After singles by Diamondbacks pitcher Shelby Miller and second baseman Jean Segura, Jake Lamb doubled to right field to score Miller. Daniel Castro cut off the relay and threw behind Lamb as he rounded second base, but Aybar dropped the ball as Segura scored.
Gonzalez said umpire Carlos Torres obstructed Aybar’s view of Castro’s throw.
“He never saw it,” Gonzalez said. “It’s one of those freak plays and they end up scoring a run on that.”
The Diamondbacks added a run in the sixth and ninth innings while the Braves managed just four base runners over the final seven innings. That continued a trend of little run support for Teheran.
In 13 starts since Sept. 1 he’s 2-4 with a 2.58 ERA, and the Braves scored two or fewer runs in 10 of those starts. Teheran wasn’t good enough to overcome
“I didn’t have my best stuff,” he said. “I did what I could do, and just battle. I know we didn’t score but it’s a battle that we are all doing and we’ll just try to come back tomorrow and do better.”
