Julio Teheran dominates as Atlanta Braves crush Cincinnati Reds, 8-0

With Wednesday night’s brutal loss fresh in the minds of everyone, the Atlanta Braves wasted no time in getting back on track on Thursday night. Starting pitcher Julio Teheran was dominant, the offense was explosive, and in the end, the Cincinnati Reds were even forced to deploy a position player on the mound on Thursday evening. That recipe was a beautiful one for Atlanta, as the Braves cruised past the Reds for an 8-0 victory in the series opener.

Because of a large lead, the aforementioned Teheran did not need to extend himself a great deal in the opener, but he was lights-out. The young right-hander pitched six scoreless innings, using only 87 pitches, and Teheran allowed only four hits (with no walks) while striking out three. It was nice to see a dominant outing from the team’s ace in a “bounce back” effort following a disappointing defeat, and Julio lived up to the billing in a big way.

Offensively, the great majority of the damage was done in the early innings against hapless Cincinnati starter David Holmberg. As mentioned in our preview, Holmberg had been overmatched during his brief MLB career, and that was evident in this one, as he allowed six runs on five hits and four walks over less than three innings. Andrelton Simmons began the scoring with a solo home run in the second, and Holmberg leaked throughout the third inning, as the Braves sent ten men to the plate in route to five runs.

Justin Upton led the way offensively with two hits, three RBI and a run scored, and with his recent surge, the outfielder now has a .290/.366/.521 slash line that places him on the fringe of NL MVP discussion. Jason Heyward, who has also been scorching of late, and Phil Gosselin each added two hits, and only Evan Gattis (who produced a sacrifice fly and a walk) went without a hit for Atlanta in the game.

To top things off on a beautiful night in Cincinnati, the Reds sent utility player Skip Schumaker to the mound for the ninth inning. Hilariously, Schumaker allowed only one base-runner in route to a scoreless inning, but it is always noteworthy and entertaining to see a position player take the mound, and it was a fitting end to a lopsided evening.

The Braves and Reds will resume their four-game set on Friday night, as left-hander Mike Minor faces off with Cincinnati’s Mat Latos. Stay tuned.