Teheran bounces back, but Atlanta Braves fall in extra innings

The Atlanta Braves came back from a 3-0 deficit Wednesday night only to lose in extra innings. How did it happen?

One night after playing into the wee hours of the morning, the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates were back at it at SunTrust Park on Wednesday night for the third contest of their four-game series . Julio Teheran took the hill against Pittsburgh’s Trevor Williams.

Teheran has had a difficult season. He entered Wednesday evening’s start with a 3-4 record and a 5.47 ERA. He’s had a particularly rough time at SunTrust Park. In his first five starts at Atlanta’s beautiful new ballpark, Teheran posted a 10.50 ERA in 24 innings pitched. That’s certainly not what the Braves organization expected to see from their ace this season.

MLB seasons are long, arduous journeys. Teheran will have a chance to redeem himself. Did his road to redemption start on Wednesday night? He got off to a less than stellar start, as he walked Adam Frazier and allowed an infield single to Josh Harrison, before striking out Josh Bell for the first out of the first inning.

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Teheran followed that up by striking out David Freese and forcing John Jaso to pop out to the shallow center field to end the inning.

Pirates starter Trevor Williams one upped Teheran by retiring the Braves in order in the bottom of the first inning. It’s hard to blame the bats for being sleepy after enduring a long night of rained soaked baseball the evening before.

They wouldn’t stay asleep for long. Pittsburgh got on the board in the top of the second inning. Jordy Mercer led off the inning with a single up the middle. Teheran then struck Danny Ortiz to get the first out of the inning.

The next batter, Chris Stewart, hit a tailor-made double-play ball at shortstop Jace Peterson (Dansby Swanson got the night off until he entered the game as a defensive replacement in the 8th inning). Peterson was unable to field the ball cleanly, extending the inning. After a Trevor Williams bunt advanced the runners, Adam Frazier crushed a three-run homer over the right-field wall. Peterson’s error meant that all three runs were unearned.

Rallying  Back

Just like that the Braves trailed 3-0. Atlanta started a two-out rally in the bottom of the third inning, but they were unable to score any runs. Ender Inciarte singled, then went from first to third on Brandon Phillips single. Nick Markakis struck out to end the threat.

The Braves would again put a runner on third base in the bottom of the fourth inning. Their most recent acquisition, first baseman and early morning walk-off single enthusiast Matt Adams, hit a one out triple. Back-to-back strikeouts from Tyler Flowers and Rio Ruiz again left them empty handed.

All their hard work would eventually pay off. Brandon Phillips led off the bottom of the sixth inning with an opposite field single. Nick Markakis followed that with an opposite field single of his own. Suddenly, Atlanta had runners on first and second with no outs and Matt Kemp at the plate.

Kemp then plated Phillips with a single up the middle. That trimmed the Pittsburgh lead to 3-1 and gave the Braves runners at the corners with no outs and Matt Adams up to bat. The Pirates responded by removing Trevor Williams from the game, bringing in reliever Juan Nicasio.

Williams finished his night with five innings pitched and three earned runs on six hits. He struck out six batters and walked none.

Niscasio got Adams to pop out to Jordy Mercer to record the first out of the inning. He then forced Tyler Flowers to pop out to Josh Harrison. Rio Ruiz saved the day, singling home Markakis to make the score 3-2 Pittsburgh.

In the following at-bat, Jace Peterson made up for his second inning error by doubling home a pair of runs to give the Braves a 4-3 lead. Emilio Bonifacio, pinch hitting for Julio Teheran, struck out to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Teheran, to his credit, settled in after allowing the three-run homer to Frazier. Hopefully it was the type of performance to get him back on track for the remainder of the season.

Teheran worked six innings, allowing three runs (none earned) on four hits. He struck out six Pirates, while surrendering just two walks.

Meltdown

The Pirates got things cooking again after Teheran’s exit. Jason Motte started the seventh inning, allowing two Pirates to reach base before striking out Josh Harrison for the second out of the inning. Brian Snitker then removed Motte in favor of Ian Krol. Krol faced the switch-hitting Josh Bell, who he would retire on fly-out to right field to end the threat.

The Braves would add on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning when Danny Santana‘s double scored Rio Ruiz, giving them a 5-3 lead. As (bad) luck would have it, they didn’t add enough insurance. Jose Ramirez gave up the lead in the top of the ninth inning.

Two singles opened the 9th, but after 2 outs failed to advance a runner, it appears Ramirez might get out of it with a save.  But after a walk to David Freese loaded the bases, a two-out Jose Osuna single tied the game at 5-5.

A scoreless bottom of the ninth meant extra innings. Were we in for another long night? Yes, but not for the same reason as Tuesday night. The Pirates had other ideas.

Gift Ngoepe’s RBI double off of Josh Collmenter in the top of the 10th inning gave the Pirates a 6-5 lead. Later in the inning, Josh Harrison stretched the lead to 8-5 with a two-run single of his own.

Pittsburgh wasn’t done yet. A David Freese homer extended their lead to 10-5. Jose Osuna homered for good measure to give the Pirates an 11-5 lead. Much like Noah and Allie’s love in the film The Notebook, it still wasn’t over.  Jordy Mercer added a solo shot to dead center field to increase the lead to 12-5.

Collmenter allowed seven earned runs on six hits, including the three consecutive home runs with two outs, during his one inning of work. Yes, all that really happened. The Braves would fail to score in the bottom half of the inning, giving Pittsburgh a 12-5 win.

The Braves and Pirates will tangle again tomorrow, as they finish off this four-game series. Bartolo Colon will face off against Ivan Nova. The first pitch is set for 12:10 p.m.

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Baseball during your lunch break? That sounds lovely. No extra innings or rain delays, please.