The Braves got the kind of performance they’ve been waiting for from Julio Teheran, and for the second night in a row they got a game-winning RBI on a ground ball. Only this time, that grounder opened the floodgates to an offensive binge in a wild and eventful seventh inning.
Christian Bethancourt matched a career high with three hits including a seeing-eye single with one out to snap a 1-1 tie, and soon there was a pitcher ejected and all manner of Braves slapping, poking and driving balls in a seven-hit, seven-run inning that sent them to a 10-1 win in the opener of a four-game series at Turner Field.
The Braves have won five of six to move back to .500 (20-20).
Teheran (4-1) allowed just two hits, one run and one walk with eight strikeouts in seven innings, and one of the hits was a grounder beneath the glove of second baseman Jace Peterson at the back of the infield, which helped the Brewers score their only run in the fourth inning.
“Julio was awesome tonight,” said Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who had two hits and two RBIs. “It took us a while to get going as an offense, but we kind of bottled it up and saved it all for one inning.”
Teheran entered with a 4.33 ERA and a .400 opponents’ average by left-handed batters, but looked more like the Teheran of old against a lineup with five switch-hitters or lefties among eight position players. Mixing in plenty of off-speed pitches to complement his fastball, he was perfect in six of his seven innings pitched.
“I felt really good,” Teheran said. “I felt that I was commanding all my pitches, and I was throwing like I did the game before. I was commanding my fastball really good today….
“I’ve been working to get back on track, and I showed today that I’ve been working (hard) to get my fastball, trying to throw all my first pitches for strikes. That’s something that will get some wins for us.”
It was the third good outing for Teheran in his past four starts, after a three-game stretch in which he gave up 20 hits, 16 runs (12 earned) and six homers in 15 innings.
“He had command of all his pitches tonight,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He kept them off-balance and made some pitches when he had to. … When a pitcher rattles off three or four starts in a row like that you’ve got to feel good about it.”
Hot-hitting Cameron Maybin had a two-run single in the seventh and Nick Markakis had an RBI double, the only extra-base hit among the Braves’ seven hits in the inning.
After Bethancourt’s go-ahead single – his other two hits were doubles — Peterson followed with an RBI single that gave the Braves some cushion, one night after they beat the Rays 2-1 on five hits and an RBI groundout by Todd Cunningham that drove in the winning run.
But soon it would become something altogether different Thursday, as a game that had been a Teheran vs. Matt Garza pitchers’ duel for six innings went off the rails on the Brewers in the seventh.
Brewers reliever Will Smith, from Newnan, was ejected in the seventh for having an illegal substance on his right forearm. He hit the first batter he faced, pinch-hitter Pedro Ciriaco, then was thrown out after Gonzalez asked umpire Jim Joyce to check it out following a first-pitch strike to Peterson.
“It’s glistening through the lights,” Gonzalez said. “You could see it in the dugout. I never went out there until he went to (the substance). The whole time he pitched to Ciriaco he never went to his wrist, but the first or second pitch to Peterson he went to it. That’s when I went out to the home-plate umpire to check.”
Joyce went to the mound and quickly ejected Smith.
“He offered his arm,” Joyce said. “I touched it and immediately knew it was a foreign substance, unfortunately for (Smith) he has to be ejected.”
Smith cursed at the Braves dugout as he walked off the field. Afterward, he didn’t deny using the substance.
“It was chilly and kind of windy,” Smith said. “I had sunscreen and rosin on my arm. I just forgot to wipe it off before I went out and pitched. I had to kind of get ready in a hurry and just forgot. I was upset. I’m a competitor. You want to stay in the game and pitch. It was a big situation. I was (ticked off) I got thrown out.
“He just took the ball and I was out. You want to be able to feel the ball; that’s it. It’s just grip. It’s not going to spin more; you’re not going to throw harder. You’ve got what you’ve got.”
Freeman said it was the first time he’d been involved in a game when a pitcher was ejected for a foreign substance.
“Every pitcher does it,” Freeman said. “As a hitter you want them to do it so they have a better grip, so we don’t get hit in the head. But just hide it better next time.”
Garza (2-6) was charged with five hits, four runs and two walks in 6 1/3 innings. He allowed just two hits and one run until the seventh inning, when two relievers — Smith and Neal Cotts — were charged with a run apiece with neither recording an out, and Michael Blazek gave up three more hits and two runs while getting the last two outs of the inning.
Teheran retired the last 10 batters he faced after Adam Lind’s two-out single in the fourth.
“Hopefully he can keep that going and build off this performance,” Freeman said. “He was lights-out tonight. He had everything working, so hopefully he can continue that going forward.”
The Brewers could have taken a lead in the fourth inning were it not for an outstanding throw by center fielder Cameron Maybin, who gunned down Gerardo Parra trying to advance from first to second on Ryan Braun’s game-tying sacrifice fly. Lind followed with his single before Aramis Ramirez popped out to end the inning.
“I’m just trying to impact the game however I can,” Maybin said. “Whether it’s defensively, whether it’s offensively. It’s a team effort every night, but I feel like if I can do the things I’ve done the last few weeks, getting on base, causing guys to really work for a tough out, just consistency is all I’m looking for. And I’ve been lucky enough to have some right now.”
