Julio Teheran dominates in Braves win over Miami Marlins
In case you were living in a cave for the last 4 days, the Atlanta Braves have been playing some dreadful baseball. They needed anything to go right for them heading down into Miami. One thing that went right was Julio Teheran on the mound. Teheran went 7.1 innings giving up just 2 runs on a Stanton homer in the first inning. The rest of the game, Julio was sparkling with 5 Ks and just 5 hits. The problem for Julio was that he pitched for the majority of the game behind by 2 runs.
The Braves struggled trying to put anything together at the plate. Every time they seemed to get something going their way, a double play would kill the inning. The Braves grounded into 4 double plays over the course of the game, which is more than you should have in an entire series. Luckily, the wheels finally started to turn in the 6th inning when Chris Johnson knocked in Justin Upton on a single to left. Then in the 7th inning, Julio Teheran helped himself with a double down the first base line. Jason Heyward came up next and tripled to deep left center, scoring Julio and tying the game at 2-2. After that, BJ made a productive out with a sacrifice fly, and the Braves took the lead 3-2.
The bullpen made an appearance again in the 8th inning, and all of Braves Country held its collective breath. Teheran started the 8th, but gave up an infield single. The Marlins sacrificed the runner over, so with one out Fredi Gonzalez went to Luis Avilan. The lefty hurler got a fly ball out to center, which brought in David Carpenter to replace him. Carpenter got a broken bat roller to first that ended the threat, and let the Braves fans release a small sigh of relief.
After the Braves went down quickly in the 9th, it was Kimbrel time yet again. The first matchup was Stanton, and Craig got him to fly out on a late swing. The second matchup was Casey McGee. Craig got in a 3-1 hole, but managed to battle back and induce another fly out to right. That left Garrett Jones, the Marlins first baseman. On a 3-1 count Jones launched a ball to left center. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I thought it had a chance to get out of the ballpark. However, BJ met it just shy of the warning track, and the Braves collected their first win in 5 days.
The MVP of the game was Julio Teheran, who not only had a great pitching performance but also had 2 hits in the game. He also scored the the tying run, so how can I not give it to the Braves “Ace”? Jason Heyward also gets a nod for his 2 hits, RBI, and run scored. The Braves only went 2-7 with RISP, but it was enough this time. It’s also not often that you’ll see a team ground into 4 double plays and win the ballgame. Craig Kimbrel got his 14th save of the season, and he’s now closing in on that all-time Franchise record.
So, the Braves take game one, which is a huge win given Miami’s best in the majors home record. They will pit Santana against Turner on Saturday afternoon. Tune in to see the Braves can take the series!