PHILADELPHIA — When Julio Teheran threw a three-hitter for his first complete game Wednesday against the Phillies, he did something no visiting pitcher had done in a regular-season game at Citizens Bank Park since the hitter-friendly joint opened in 2004. He threw a shutout, the first of his career.
No pitcher had blanked the Phillies for a complete game in the regular season at home in more than a decade, and Teheran needed to be that good to beat Cliff Lee on a night when the veteran left-hander also threw a complete game, firing a career-high 128 pitches and striking out 13 Braves without walking any of them.
Catcher Evan Gattis’ fourth-inning homer on an 0-2 fastball accounted for the only run. He had a career-high four hits, nearly one-third of the 13 that Lee allowed. “I still think he’s the best lefty starter in the game,” Gattis said.
Teheran struck out four, walked none, allowed only three singles, and took care of business with 75 strikes in 115 pitches.
“He was hitting his spots and everything,” Phillies leadoff hitter Ben Revere told reporters. “Man, that’s just the way baseball goes. We have a bunch of guys hitting it right on the money, but just right at their guys. It was definitely (Teheran’s) night. Everything went the way he wanted.”
Lee became the first pitcher in history to lose two complete games in which he allowed one or no runs and struck out at least 13 batters. It’s only been done 19 times, and he’s done it twice, and strangely enough both of those Lee losses were to Braves in his past two starts against them.
Lee struck out 13 and allowed three hits and one run in eight innings of a loss at Atlanta on Sept. 27. In his past three starts against the Braves, he is 1-2 despite a 1.08 ERA and a remarkable 36 strikeouts and one walk in 25 innings.
“Cliff has got such great stuff, and he knows it,” said Braves second baseman Dan Uggla, who was 1-for-4 with one strikeout Wednesday. “He trusts his stuff, and he should. He’s one of the quicker innings out there too. He tries to let you put the ball in play, let his defense work. But anytime he gets somebody on second base, buddy, he bears down and he just comes in. Becomes even tougher.
“His ball moves so much. He’s got six different pitches, it seems like. And he just bears down, man. When he’s got runners in scoring position, he’s even tougher than normal.”
There had been only two complete games pitched in the majors this season before Teheran and Lee doubled that total Wednesday in a game that was crisp (2 hours, 29 minutes) and cool (temps in the low 40s by the late innings).
The last time that a Braves-Phillies game had both pitchers toss complete games was Sept. 2, 1972, when the Braves’ Mike McQueen lost 3-0 to the Phillies’ Dave Downs in the second game of a doubleheader.
The last time the Braves played any game in which both pitchers threw complete games was 2004, when Mike Hampton was on the losing side of Randy Johnson’s May 18 perfect game in a 2-0 win for the Diamondbacks at Turner Field.
And the last time the Braves won a 1-0 games when both pitchers threw complete games was May 25, 2001, when Greg Maddux beat Pittsburgh’s Todd Ritchie.
The Phillies had a runner at second with two out and major league batting leader Chase Utley at the plate in the ninth inning, after Jimmy Rollins singled and stole second. Teheran got behind in the count 3-0 before inducing a 3-1 grounder from Utley to the right side of the infield.
Uggla ranged left and fielded it at the back of the infield sliding to his knees, then threw to first in plenty of time for the out.
“Oh, gosh,” Uggla said. “I mean, it’s one of those where normally in that situation I probably would have just, like, reached out and scooped it up. But I’m like, I’m going to tackle this thing, just to make sure. I’m not leaving anything up to chance.”
