Coming into this series, it was apparent that the pitching matchups favored the Braves. After one game, Julio Teheran did nothing to dispel that notion. Teheran was magnificent tonight, turning in the finest start of his young career. Minnesota had no answer for the Braves young righty who breezed through 8 innings of work. Dan Uggla and the Atlanta offense staked Teheran to 4-0 lead after the first inning, and he made that hold up all night.
Atlanta got the fireworks started right away in the first inning, as three straight one-out singles from Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, and Freddie Freeman made it 1-0 in favor of the home team. Two batters later, Dan Uggla stepped to the plate and demolished a high fastball from Kevin Correia over the left field wall. It was Uggla's 8th home run on the year, and made it 4-0.
Those 4 runs would be more than enough for Teheran, but the Braves would add one more in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly from Andrelton Simmons to make it 5-0.
On the other side, Julio Teheran dazzled all night long. Teheran shut out the Twins through the first eight innings, allowing just 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out four. Fredi Gonzalez sent him back out to start the ninth inning, and he allowed a solo home run to Josh Willingham and another single before he was pulled. Though he didn't get his shutout, this was the best start of Teheran's career so far, and should be an excellent confidence builder for him going forward.
Atlanta will look to keep their win streak going tomorrow as they take on Mike Pelfrey. Tim Hudson will take the mound for Atlanta.