Teheran, 1st-Inning Offense lead Braves to 2-1 Victory

Aug 18, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Julio Teheran (49) pitches in the second inning against the Washington Nationals at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

As far as action-packed Major League Baseball games go, Sunday’s game between the Braves and Nationals won’t rank highly, but in the end, the Braves finished off their homestand with another series victory.

Julio Teheran battled through 6 shutout innings for the Braves, and the offense supported him with two 1st-inning runs that held up for the duration of a 2-1 victory. Normally, seeing a pitcher throw 6 shutout innings wouldn’t elicit the term “battled”, but Teheran’s grinding performance indicated just that. The youngster didn’t have his top-flight stuff or command on this day, but he kept the hits manageable (just 5 in 6 innings) and navigated through each of his 3 walks with some quality pitching in jams.

In the first 3 innings, Teheran allowed the first two Washington hitters to reach base each time, but somehow escaped thanks to some timely pitch-making. Then, after Julio exited the game, Scott Downs put two men on in the 7th inning before David Carpenter completed yet another “Houdini” act thanks to a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play completed by the rifle of Gerald Laird. All in all, it was a quality pitching performance from Teheran through to Craig Kimbrel (who dominated in another 9th inning, including a game-ending strikeout for “fan favorite” Bryce Harper), and that was nice to see.

Offensively, the only damage to the scoreboard came in the opening frame. BJ Upton led the game off with an encouraging walk, and promptly stole second base to set up the fireworks. Then, rookie Phil Gosselin dropped what was supposed to be a sacrifice bunt, but it was perfectly placed, and he reached base with his first Major League hit. Following that, Freddie Freeman drove home the first run on another “clutch” single, and following an Evan Gattis twin-killing, the red-hot Chris Johnson gave the Braves another RBI single.

After the fireworks early, the Braves struggled noticeably at the plate, but fortunately, it didn’t matter. The team managed just 2 hits the rest of the way (a Gosselin single in the 3rd and a Freeman double in the 6th), and Gio Gonzalez settled in for a solid performance for Washington. The make-shift lineup deployed by Fredi Gonzalez (and make-shift is an understatement) somehow got the job done in this spot, but the pitching unquestionably carried the day.

The Braves have a scheduled day off on Monday, and they are in desperate need of a breather after the whirlwind back-to-back of Saturday and Sunday. Following the day off, the team will head to New York for a quick, 2-game series with the Mets, and the first pitch on Tuesday at Citi Field will be at 7:10 pm ET.