LAKELAND, Fla. – The last time Julio Teheran made his spring debut against the Tigers in Lakeland, he was hammered for six home runs in two innings with the wind blowing out at Joker Marchant Stadium. That was in 2012, when Teheran was just trying to win a spot in the rotation.
Now an All-Star who’s in line to make his second consecutive opening-day start for the Braves, Teheran made his spring debut Thursday against the Tigers and kept them in the ballpark. He was charged with three hits, one run and one walk in two innings, but Teheran got done what he needed to in the 6-4 Braves win.
“I felt good,” said Teheran, whose two strikeouts came against the first batters of the first inning. “I threw all my pitches for strikes. That’s my key for today’s game and I think I did good. I was controlling all my pitches. That was my goal for today.”
After striking out Rajai Davis and Ian Kinsler in the first inning, Teheran gave up a double to Steven Moya before the Tigers scored a run on a J.D. Martinez single, a catchable ball that landed in front of the glove of diving left fielder Joey Terdoslavich.
He walked the leadoff hitter in the second inning before inducing a double-play grounder from Aaron Westlake. The next two batters reached on a single and an error before Davis popped out to end the second inning and Teheran’s planned two-inning stint.
“They scored a run after we misplayed a ball in the outfield,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “But he threw strikes, got his innings, got his pitches up, goes on to his next start.”
Pitching with runners on the bases wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as Teheran got to pitch plenty from the stretch as a result.
“That’s something you want to try, you want to pitch from the stretch, that’s when you’ve got to work,” he said. “Then see how you battle with men on base. And I feel good about that.”
Teheran has pitched at this stadium since that day in 2012, and said he didn’t think about the six-homer barrage he endured in that Grapefruit League debut. But then he smiled before adding that, just in case, he made sure to warm up on a different bullpen mound than the one he used that day three years ago.
