Braves 4, Brewers 2: One mistake from reliever Elvis Peguero proves costly

An uncharacteristic rough inning by Elvis Peguero proved costly for the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday afternoon.

Pitching the eighth with closer Devin Williams presumably unavailable for duty, Peguero surrendered a game-turning, three-run home run to Ozzie Albies that paved the way to a frustrating 4-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves at American Family Field.

The late turn of events scuttled Julio Teheran's best start in a month, as he limited the high-powered Braves to one run over six innings.

BOX SCORE: Braves 4, Brewers 2

The Brewers will get another crack at the Braves next weekend in Atlanta. But next up will be the Cincinnati Reds for another big three-game series with the team chasing them in the National League Central standings.

The bullpen finally falters

Hoby Milner and Abner Uribe combined on a scoreless seventh before handing the ball off to Peguero for the eighth.

He immediately got into trouble when Orlando Arcia singled to start the inning. After Michael Harris II hit into a forceout at second, Ronald Acuña Jr. singled to center.

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One pitch later, Albies went down and got a sinker out over the lower third of the plate and drove it the other way for a three-run homer to left-center.

It was just the second homer allowed by Peguero all season and the first since April 27 -- a span of 35 appearances.

Julio Teheran was back to being terrific

It had been more than a month since Teheran pitched as well as he did Sunday.

Facing the team he rose to prominence with in the Braves, the right-hander surrendered a solo homer to Travis d'Arnaud in the second inning then settled in and allowed only one hit and two baserunners the rest of the way.

Teheran had entered on the heels of three consecutive rough starts after having been tagged for seven, six and four earned runs respectively, but gave up only the one against Atlanta with five strikeouts over 78 pitches.

Sal Frelick in the middle of it again

Rookie Sal Frelick saw his average drop below 1.000 for the first time in the major leagues when he grounded out to second base to close out the first inning.

But he was back to making things happen in his next plate appearance in the fourth. He drew a leadoff walk from Bryce Elder, went to third on a Victor Caratini single and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Owen Miller.

Frelick fouled out in his third plate appearance, then gave everyone a few anxious moments when he collided with Brice Turang as both players converged on a pop fly to shallow right field in the seventh.

Both players remained down for a bit but ran off under their own power.

Brice Turang gets into one

Elder has been one of the better starting pitchers in the National League this season, but in his first at-bat against him Turang turned on a 90.2-mph fastball and hammered it 417 feet out to right for his first homer since May 14.

Turang entered the day hitting just .193 with no homers and five RBI since being recalled from Class AAA Nashville on June 29.

Up next

Monday – Reds at Brewers, 7:10 p.m. Cincinnati RHP Graham Ashcraft (5-7, 5.77) vs. Milwaukee RHP Colin Rea (5-4, 4.64). TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Braves 4, Brewers 2: Rough inning by Elvis Peguero proves costly