Julio Teheran has spent the better part of two months pitching like he was the young ace of a pretty good Braves starting staff. Tuesday night was just another exclamation point.
Teheran rebounded from an anomaly of an outing in San Francisco, when he struggled to get a grip on the ball in dry conditions, to shut out the Brewers in a 5-0 win.
“He’s proven himself to be the ace of the team,” said Andrelton Simmons, who gave him an early lead with a solo home run. “He had a bad outing a couple days ago. It’s the best way you can bounce back right there: shutout.”
Teheran pitched his second shutout of the year - and for his career - only 10 starts into his second full season. On April 16, the 23-year-old outdueled Cliff Lee and the Phillies 1-0. This time it was Yovani Gallardo, who was out of the game with an injury after allowing four runs in only 3 1/3 innings.
“I felt a little different this time from the last time,” Teheran said. “In Philadelphia, I was a little bit excited about the ninth inning. And this time I just concentrated, I was a little bit calm. I tried to do the same thing that I did in the eighth inning.”
Teheran, who was at 109 pitches to start the ninth, gave up singles to two of the first three batters he faced but struck out the next two to end the game on his 128th pitch.
“He gave up that single to lead off the ninth and I was just chirping at him ‘We’ve got to get it done; let’s get it done,’” catcher Gerald Laird said. “I know he had one earlier this season but the good ones, and the horses, are able to go out there (repeatedly) and they smell the blood in the water. He was able to settle down and make pitches and I’m glad he got it done.”
Teheran was facing the last hitter manager Fredi Gonzalez was prepared to let him pitch to when he got Carlos Gomez to swing and miss on his fifth straight fastball.
Teheran, who was still hitting 92 mph to Gomez in the ninth, allowed only six hits total, walked two, hit a batter and struck out eight.
“We were going to give him an opportunity,” Gonzalez said. “He deserves that. He earned that. We weren’t going to put him in a position where you’re going to risk an injury, but (128) pitches is right in the wheelhouse.…That was his last hitter, obviously. But he pitched outstanding, mixed his pitches well, did a nice job commanding the fastball up in the strike zone and also down and away a couple times.”
Teheran got some rare run support to even his record to 3-3, when his 1.92 ERA indicates he’s deserved much better. Tuesday was the eighth time in 10 starts Teheran has held an opponent to two earned runs or fewer.
His last start Wednesday in San Francisco, he struggled to grip the ball and made it only 3 1/3 innings, allowing five runs (four earned). He had other obstacles to overcome Tuesday night. Catcher Evan Gattis got sick to his stomach while warming Teheran up just 10 or 15 minutes before the game started, and Laird found out he was catching just three or four minutes before the national anthem.
“I was sitting down (in the clubhouse), just joking around, getting ready for the game and (first base coach Terry Pendleton) came running up here,” Laird said. “I thought he was kidding. He was like ‘Nope, you’re in there.’ I was like ‘Oh man.’ Talk about a panic mode. (But) that’s part of my role. As a bench player you’ve got to be ready to go at any time in the game. You can’t complain. You’ve just got to go in there and try to get it done.”
Laird was able to get down to the bullpen to catch a couple of warm-up pitches. He and Teheran didn’t have time to game-plan but Laird just said he relied on Teheran’s strengths. And while that was his fastball early on, later in the game Teheran settled in with his slider.
“That’s what allowed him to go the full game,” Laird said.
With Teheran cruising into the seventh inning, both Teheran and Gomez were brought to a standstill, both visibly shaken, after Gomez fouled a ball into the stands which struck a small child in the head. The Braves announced after the game the young boy was awake and talkative when he was treated on site. He was then taken to a local hospital.
“I knew somebody got hit really bad,” Teheran said. “I didn’t know it was a child. I hope he’s fine. If somebody knows him, please tell him that I hope he’s doing good.”
The Braves have won three in a row, with Justin Upton hitting a home run in each of them. His fifth inning shot Tuesday night was his second in the past two games to the opposite field. Upton now has 12 home runs on the season. He also supplied a key two-run single with the bases loaded in the third.
That Upton single helped the Braves take a 3-0 lead for the second straight night against a tough Brewers starter. This time they watched Gallardo exit with an ankle injury with one out in the fourth inning.
That old baseball adage about putting the ball in play because a lot can happen? Teheran was at the plate with runners second and third and the infield in with one out in the fourth inning. He chopped a ball over the mound, which Gallardo leaped for and turned his ankle on when he landed awkwardly.
Teheran plated a run in the process after second baseman Scooter Gennett and shortstop Jean Segura nearly collided trying to field the ball. Gallardo left having given up four runs.
Simmons set up that rally with an acrobatic head-first slide into second base, taking the extra base after he’d singled off the second base bag. Simmons took a cue from Jason Heyward, who used a headfirst slide to score Tuesday in San Francisco on a play where catcher Buster Posey could have easily tagged him out.
“I watched JHey’s video a couple times,” Simmons said. “Just throw the body over there, then twist (the hand) over there. I just tried to stay away from his glove. After I got my hand in there, I tried to stay on the bag and somehow I did that.”
Simmons was initially ruled out on the play but the call was overturned, making Gonzalez and the Braves 6-for-7 in video replay challenges this season.
“I wasn’t sure that I didn’t come off the bag,” said Simmons, who watched the replay on the center field video screen with the rest of the 20,045 at Turner Field. “But as soon as I saw I didn’t come off the bag on the video I knew I was safe.”
