Teheran takes down Pirates, gives Snitker his first win as Atlanta Braves skipper

The JT we know and love showed up to PNC Park and dazzled Wednesday night.

Can you have a vintage performance when you’re 25-years old? Why not?

Because Wednesday night was a vintage Julio Teheran performance.

The Colombian righty has been a lot of things during his Braves tenure—top prospect, young hot shot, de facto ace, embattled ace and now, veteran of an impossibly precocious starting rotation.

So Wednesday night’s performance—scattering five hits over 7.2 innings and shutting out one of the National League’s best offenses—earned Brian Snitker his first big-league managerial victory and harkened back to Teheran’s 2013-14 seasons and less on his rough existence in 2015. It also enabled Teheran to walk away with his first victory in 2016.

(Brief aside: Gotta be gratifying for Snitker, a Braves lifer who probably never thought this day would come. He seems like a great dude. I’m happy for him.)

It looked bad early, with Teheran giving up a double to Gregory Polanco and hitting Jung-ho Kang with a pitch in the first inning. After going full to Francisco Cervelli, Teheran was able to induce a grounder to Erick Aybar to extricate himself.

Then he cruised for the next six innings.

The Buccos were so aggressive, especially early, that they were often their own worst enemy. Teheran needed seven pitches to get through the second inning.

Six to get through the third—including a first-pitch double play off John Jaso’s bat following a lead-off single from Francisco Liriano.

Teheran threw a whopping 11 pitches in the fourth and 11 pitches fifth. For those who struggle at math, that’s 35 pitches to record 12 outs against the team with the highest on-base percentage and third-best OPS in the National League. His precision was evident in this outing; relying mostly on his four-seamer and slider, Teheran’s ability to spot his pitches with pinpoint control and maximize movement was phenomenal. If he pitches like ‘this’—‘this’ being his spiffy 1.15 ERA over his last six starts—he won’t just be the Braves ‘courtesy All-Star’; he’ll be an All-Star, period, come July.

Braves Off-Onfence

The Braves played old-fashioned, station-to-station ball to open and close their scoring night. After Daniel Castro led off the third with a single, Teheran moved him over with a sac bunt and Ender Inciarte moved him to third on a groundout. Freddie Freeman did the kind of two-out hitting that he’s paid the big bucks for, roping a single into center to bring him around.

Tyler Flowers unloaded a mammoth solo blast in the sixth to extend the lead (his season’s first), part of a huge 3-for-4 night for him as part of campaign to earn the regular starting nod behind the plate.

The Braves tacked on an insurance run in the ninth. After a Chase D’Arnaud walk, Castro moved him over and then Gordon Beckham roped a double into right that scored D’Arnaud easily. The Braves had a chance for more, after an Inciarte single moved Beckham to third, but Nick Markakis grounded into an inning-ending double-play.

Kang, perhaps still smarting after Teheran’s pitch caught him right on the left butt cheek in the first, cranked a ninth-inning solo homer off Arodys Vizcaino but that would be all for Pittsburgh as Atlanta took its first game in the series.

Next: Securing Ozzie and Dansby

The Braves look to escape the Steel City Thursday with a series split. Standing in Atlanta and Mike Foltynewicz’s way will be Jeff Locke, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. (ET).