Atlanta Braves Sweep Behind Unhittable Teheran
By Fred Owens
The Home Stretch
Hansel Robles replaced Bastardo in the top of the eighth and struck out Flowers but Peterson and Chase d’Arnaud singled to right and the Braves quickly had a rally started.
Aybar struck out and with the Braves up 5-0 Brian Snitker decided to leave Teheran in the game and he responded with a line drive single to left loading the bases. With Francoeur batting Robles cut loose a wild pitch allowing Peterson to score and putting runners on send and third with two out but Frenchy struck out to end the inning.
With 95 pitches under his belt Teheran resumed work in the bottom of the eighth and seven pitches later he was back in the dugout. Freeman got another single with one out in the top of the ninth but was stranded there when Flowers and Markakis were unable to punish Robles.
The Braves bullpen crew were on siesta as Teheran headed back out to try to finish a complete game shut out; it took him 13 pitches to do just that. Teheran finished the day having faced 28 Mets hitters, striking out seven without walking a hitter and retiring the last 21 in a row.
Summing Up
One the day he threw 120 pitches 82 for strikes and giving up just one hit, a single to Conforto on a 3-2 count in the third inning. After that the Mets walked to the plate then turned and sat down seemingly unable to figure out what Teheran was throwing.
Over his last 11 starts, Julio Teheran has posted a 1.78 ERA (15 ER/75.2 IP).
— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) June 19, 2016
Over his last 6 starts, hes allowed a total of 20 hits#Braves
This was Teheran’s fifth complete game and the shutout lowered his ERA for the season from 2.93 to 2.66 and his WHIP from 0.990 to 0.901. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the ball that hit Smith’s hand also broke his thumb,
Fractured thumb for Mallex Smith. #Braves
— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) June 19, 2016
Mallex on his left thumb fracture: "Things happen and things got a little messed up. I’ll just rehab and come back stronger.”
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 19, 2016
That’s A Wrap
It’s always fun to beat the Mets particularly with the quality of pitching they features. deGrom had one bad inning and neither Steven Matz, nor Matt Harvey were awful. The passion and energy of Ender Inciarte raised the energy of the whole team. Freeman is hot, Markakis squared up a pitch for a long ball, Flowers is still hitting the ball hard and even Aybar is showing signs of life.
The loss of Smith is however huge for him and for the team. The Braves have an off day tomorrow so we’ll have to see who replaces him on the active roster but the choices are limited. With Gordon Beckham still on the 15 day DL the obvious choice as the only healthy everyday play on the 40 man roster not currently in Atlanta. is Daniel Castro.
The immediate result will be more playing time for Francoeur and possibly some left field time for Adonis Garcia; after his ankle heals of course. We will also likely see d’Arnaud getting some time in left and maybe Peterson as well.
Teheran’s performance will undoubtedly light a fire under trade talk but every game like this bumps up the price.
Julio Teheran became the first #Braves starter to throw a complete game, one hit shutout on the road since Kent Merker (4/8/94) at LAD
— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) June 19, 2016
The front office will listen of course but as big as the theoretical haul could be, I still do not believe the Braves will do that.
Trading Teheran causes too many problems for next year as well as the last half of this one. Unless it’s the motherload of players, it won’t be worth it.
Whatever happens we’ll keep you informed here at the take.