SAN FRANCISCO – The Braves' Julio Teheran was looking forward to evening the score with the Giants after giving up a career-high three homers against them on May 3 in Atlanta.
But instead of getting even, Teheran got rocked. He gave up seven hits, five runs (four earned) and five walks in 3 1/3 innings during a 10-4 loss Wednesday afternoon at AT&T Park, where the Braves fell for the 10th time in 15 games, including five losses in six games against the Giants during that span.
Teheran was staked to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on RBI doubles by Freddie Freeman and Chris Johnson, but it took only two batters for the Giants to erase the lead – a Gregor Blanco walk followed by Hunter Pence’s two-run homer during a three-run first inning when San Francisco batted around and forced Teheran to throw 41 pitches.
The loss was the Braves’ first in 15 games this season when they scored first.
Teheran appeared to have some problem with a finger on his pitching hand and was checked by a team trainer and manager Fredi Gonzalez on the mound during the first inning. But he continued and it wasn’t immediately clear what the problem had been.
Five walks matched Teheran’s career high, the Giants scored a run in the second inning without benefit of a hit. Teheran walked Blanco again to start the inning and the former Braves outfielder stole second base, then stole third base and scored on catcher Evan Gattis’ errant throw that sailed to left field foul territory.
Blanco’s three steals matched his career high and the Giants’ San Francisco-era team record.
The Giants also got homers from Michael Morse (off Alex Wood) in the sixth inning and Brandon Crawford, whose two-run blast in the eighth off David Carpenter landed in McCovey Cove, the 66th homer by a San Francisco batter to land in the water since the ballpark opened in 2000 and the second in this series.
The West Division-leading Giants have hit 28 home runs while winning 15 of their past 20 games, and in their past 12 games against the Braves they are 9-3 with 17 homers.
It was another rough day for Braves center fielder B.J. Upton, who was ejected by home-plate umpire Lance Barrett after arguing called third strike in the sixth inning, his 20th strikeout in 37 at-bats over his past 12 games. Upton struck out in all three plate appearances in his second consecutive three-strikeout game, and he’s batting .207 with a majors-leading 51 strikeouts in 135 at-bats.
He was the first Braves player, coach or manager to be ejected this season, the second year in a row that he’s had that dubious distinction.
The Braves backup-sprinkled lineups – the “B-Bombers” as manager Fredi Gonzalez calls them — have served well for the most part in limited starts this season, but the defensive deficiencies proved costly Wednesday.
Right fielder Ryan Doumit let a soft single land in front of him in the fourth inning before Pablo Sandoval’s RBI single through the left side of the infield, which chased Teheran from the game. Doumit also had a runner advance to third base against him on a fly ball to medium right field in the fifth.
That runner likely doesn’t test regular Braves right fielder Jason Heyward’s arm, and is almost certainly thrown out if he does. Blanco followed with an RBI single for a 6-4 lead.
