Teheran throws six solid innings in Braves loss to Tigers

Julio Teheran continued his preparations for his fourth consecutive Opening Day start for the Braves with a solid performance against the Tigers on Friday afternoon. He went six innings and only gave up two runs against Detroit as the Braves eventually lost to the Tigers in walk-off fashion in extra innings.

Both of the runs that Teheran gave up came in the third inning, which is when the Tigers jumped all over him from the word ‘Go.’ Alex Presley led off the inning with a ground-rule double, and then Brendan Ryan put Detroit on the board with another double. Nick Castellanos added another ground-rule double later on in the frame, and that made it 2-0 Tigers with one out in the third.

Just when it seemed like Julio Teheran was in some major trouble, he got himself out of it in familiar fashion — he picked off a runner. He caught Castellanos straying a bit too far from second base and wiped him off the basepaths with a quick move to second.

Teheran got into another jam in the fifth inning, which is when he started off the inning with a HBP, a walk, and a single to load the bases with nobody out. With the difficulty level set on ‘high,’ Julio went to work by recording two consecutive strikeouts. Castellanos came to bat with two outs and the bases still loaded and hit a rope to right field, but Mel Rojas Jr. ended up making a spectacular catch to make sure that Teheran and the Braves escaped the inning with no damage whatsoever.

Teheran eventually finished the day with a line of six innings pitched, two runs allowed, five hits allowed, and five strikeouts over 88 pitches. He probably could have gone a little bit longer if this was a regular season game, which is to say that he’s probably ready for the real games to start.

After that great escape, the top of the Braves’ lineup came to bat for the sixth inning and gave us a preview of what we can hopefully see a lot of from these guys at the plate this season. With Mike Pelfrey pitching, Dansby Swanson led off the frame with a walk, and then Brandon Phillips reached via HBP. Freddie Freeman poked a single to right to make it 2-1, and then Matt Kemp tied it with a groundout. That was the final action of the game for all four of those guys, and they definitely ended their day on a high note.

Ian Krol, Jose Ramirez, and Eric O’Flaherty all threw scoreless innings in relief of Teheran, and the game eventually went to extra innings. The Tigers made sure that the game didn’t end in a tie, as JaCoby Jones hit a walk-off single to win it 3-2 for the Tigers.

With that being said, there was a lot of positive stuff on display for the Braves — most notably, Julio Teheran’s performance on the day. He looked like he was ready for the season to start, and said as much after the game was over.

The only questionable thing on display is that haircut. In all seriousness, though, it’s good to see that Julio Teheran is doing well as the season gets closer and closer to starting.