As he nears his fifth consecutive opening-day start for the Braves, Julio Teheran looked ready to roll Friday night in a 3-1 Grapefruit League win against the Yankees.
Teheran allowed two hits in four scoreless innings with two strikeouts and no walks before a sold-out crowd at Champion Stadium. He threw 37 strikes in 53 pitches in his third start and hasn’t allowed a run in nine spring innings.
“We’re three weeks away,” said Teheran, who was pleased with how he mixed his pitches and was able to use them all in any count, his primary objective this spring along with a team-wide emphasis on throwing first-pitch strikes.
“I’m not trying to rush, just keep working. By the time we get to opening day just get everything together so I don’t have to go there and make adjustments, I just make them here,” Teheran said.
The Braves haven’t officially announced their opening-day starter for March 29 vs. Philadelphia, but when they didn’t add an ace-caliber pitcher in the offseason, there was never any doubt Teheran would again start the opener.
As manager Brian Snitker indicated Friday, one could look at how the starters are lined up now at spring training and deduce the planned order when the season begins: Teheran is on schedule to start the opener, followed by Mike Foltynewicz and veteran Brandon McCarthy, with second-year lefty Sean Newcomb expected to fill the fourth spot.
Several are competing for the fifth spot now that Luiz Gohara is out with a sprained ankle, his second injury of spring training. Gohara was hurt in a fielding drill Friday.
Teheran, who is throwing more change-ups and fewer sliders this spring -- something he intends to take to the season -- got a scare in the fourth inning when Gary Sanchez hit a line-drive single that nearly hit the pitcher in the head, Teheran moving out the way a split-second before it shot past.
“I was in a battle with him,” Teheran said of Sanchez, who would homer two innings later off Arodys Vizcaino. “That one came back to the middle. He’s a great hitter, you don’t want to mess with that.”
Teheran induced a pop-up before Miguel Andujar lined into an inning-ending double play.
Teheran retired the first six batters he faced before Gleyber Torres reached on an error against third baseman Ryan Schimpf to start the third inning. Two fly-outs later Aaron Hicks singled to center before Teheran struck out Greg Bird to end the inning with two on in a still-scoreless game.
After reliever Sam Freeman issued three walks and struck out Bird with bases loaded to end the fifth inning, the Braves took a 1-0 lead in the fifth when Christian Colon drew a leadoff walk and scored on Preston Tucker’s double.
Sanchez tied the score with his homer in the sixth before the Braves regained the lead for good with a pair of runs in the seventh after singles by Tucker and Charlie Culberson and Carlos Franco’s two-out RBI double plus an error on the play.
