Terrific On The Mound, Julio Teheran Leads Atlanta Braves Over Cincinnati Reds

The Atlanta Braves bats woke up in the Sunday sunshine and Julio Terehan pitches well to earn the win over the Reds.

How The Braves Won

A beautiful Sunday at Turner field started off with immediate excitement when a Julio Teheran fastball ran up and in on Zach Cozart and hit him on the wrist. There was clearly no intent but Cozart kept yapping at Teheran all the way to first. Cozart had a rough day all around as he later left the game after a groundball took a bad bounce and jammed his right index finger.   A double play ended the Reds half without incident but Johnny Cueto had a much less successful first.

Doubles from Andrelton Simmons and Freddie Freeman put the Braves on the board but the big blow came when Kelly Johnson hit a Cueto fastball deep into the right center field stands. Kelly’s extra base power this season and the right-handed Cueto on the mound earned him the start at third. So far this season Kelly has 15 hits including 5 homes and 2 doubles giving him a slugging % of .542 while hitting just .263.

Teheran had a rough second caused partly by some uneven strike zone definition by the home plate umpire but escaped with no damage. Cueto was greeted by a double from Christian Bethancourt then promptly walked Cameron Maybin. Teheran provided the perfect bunt moving the runners into scoring position and they should have had at least one when Nick Markakis grounded to second but Brandon Phillips couldn’t decide whether to throw home, trap Maybin who had wandered too far off second in a rundown or throw Markakis out. In the end he held the ball, Bethancourt stayed on third and Markakis ended up on first loading the bases.

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Simmons has looked a lot better at the plate this season but this at bat looked at lot like last year’s. His first swing was so hard he ended up off balance and out of the box. Eventually he hit a little bloop over first that Votto caught for out number two and still no one scored. Freeman hit a lazy fly ball short of the track to end the inning. Failures like that sometimes turn a game around but the Reds went quietly in the third and Cueto’s rough day continued.

Johnson sent the center fielder to the warning track to start the inning then Jonny Gomes homered and Bethancourt legged out an infield hit before Cueto got out of the inning. Teheran settled down and we began to see the pitcher we were accustom to seeing last year. he kept hitters off balance and created a lot of off balance swings as he started to pile up strikeouts.

In the sixth inning the Braves added another run after a hit by Jace Peterson was followed by a balk from Cueto and a single by Maybin. Teheran was lifted for a pinch hitter finishing the day going 6 innings allowing 3 hits, striking out 6 and walking 2. he threw 102 pitches, 67 for strikes and used his fastball 63% of the time, up form 50% his last two outings.

Cody Martin replaced Teheran on the mound pitching two easy innings helped by a great play from Jace Peterson who ranged into no man’s land to make a superb catch on a popup that had base ht written all over it.  The inning  ended when Joey Votto struck out on a questionable call. Michael Kohn came on to get the first two outs in the ninth, but after walking a batter Luis Avilan was called in to face Brennan Boesch and wrap up the ninth with a strikeout

Notable :

• Teheran’s return to form , lots of fastballs, lots of strikeouts
• Kelly Johnson continue to get extra base hits 46% of the time
• Peterson showing good glove work at second
• The Braves continuing to deliver with runners in scoring position, particularly on second

That’s A Wrap

It was a nice game for a change from a team that’s been stumbling. They seemed to raise their game as Cueto struggled to keep the ball out of the middle of the plate. Now we wait to see if they can take advantage of the Phillies as they visit the Ted for three games beginning tomorrow night.