Braves 11, Brewers 5: Julio Teheran's former team shows him no mercy in shellacking
ATLANTA – Julio Teheran crashed back to earth with a loud thud.
Signed due to necessity out of the minor leagues and thrust into the starting rotation at the major-league level by the Milwaukee Brewers, Teheran delivered six impeccable starts out of the gates. The veteran right-hander who had thrown five innings in the major leagues since the end of the 202 season, allowed six earned runs and had a 1.53 earned run average and 0.88 WHIP.
If it felt too good to be true, that’s because it probably was.
Since then, Teheran has a 8.89 ERA, allowing 27 earned runs in five games, including the latest difficulty for Teheran back in Atlanta, where he made six opening-day starts and a pair of all-star teams with the Braves from 2011-19.
"There was a lot of emotions but, to be honest, I was just focused on repeating what I did in my last outing," said Teheran, referencing his six one-run innings against Atlanta in Milwaukee six days prior.
The gauntlet that is the Braves lineup, however, showed not an ounce of mercy for the player who’s thrown more innings for the franchise than all but one person outside of Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine since the first of the big three, Glavine, debuted in 1987.
Teheran gave up nine runs, including six in the first inning, on 11 hits over five innings as the Braves pounded the Brewers, 11-5, Saturday night at Truist Park.
"He just got hit hard, unfortunately," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "They had a lot of loud contact and squared up a lot of baseballs."
First inning balloons on Julio Teheran
Before Teheran even recorded an out, the Braves had already put the Brewers in a hole.
Ronald Acuña Jr. singled to lead off the bottom of the first. Ozzie Albies singled. Austin Riley singled. Matt Olson singled.
Two to nil, Braves.
Teheran finally recorded an out when rightfielder Sal Frelick made an acrobatic lunging grab on the warning track on what wound up being a Travis d'Arnaud sacrifice fly, but Marcell Ozuna then doubled and Eddie Rosario blasted a two-run home run.
"Obviously, we weren’t planning on that," Teheran said.
Six to nil, Braves as Teheran had allowed six runs for the third time in his last five starts, this one coming before he notched two outs.
"Again, Julio has to be on the corners no matter what," Counsell said. "He’s not operating with a nasty, big swing-and-miss pitch, so he has to execute a whole bunch of pitches and mix it up very, very well. You can mix it up well but if they’re in the middle of the plate, that’s trouble. That’s trouble and that’s what happened tonight."
Julio Teheran struggles with location
Teheran struggled with location, leaving a bevy of sinkers and cutters over the white of the plate, but suggested postgame he was concerned he may have been tipping pitches, too, which would have created for a brutal double-whammy.
"I feel like they were looking for those pitches I threw," Teheran said. "Things were working for me in my last outing and there was no reason to change anything, but I feel like they were looking for that and they were comfortable. I’ve got four pitches and I threw all of them and they knew when – that’s what I feel."
Acuña later homered off Teheran in the fourth and Ozuna added a solo shot in the fifth before turning it into a two-homer game with a two-run blast against reliever Trevor Megill in the seventh.
William Contreras' three-run homer along with good defense – Frelick and Joey Wiemer each made excellent grabs and recorded outfield assists – were the lone highlights for the Brewers, who have given up more runs (21) the last two nights than they did in their nine second-half games against anyone but the Braves (19) combined.
"We made several nice defensive plays," Counsell said. "Joey made a great play, Sal made two great plays, Andruw made a really nice play."
Julio Teheran's spot in rotation could be in jeopardy
The outing casts further question upon Teheran's spot in the rotation moving forward. Wade Miley was already expected to be back in the near future prior to the blow-up Saturday. Brandon Woodruff's return is a bit further down the road, but it's well within sight.
For now, the Brewers aren't committing to anything.
"We got some time to figure that out," Counsell said. "We’ll look at what’s going on. We hope to get Woody back. That’s going to cost somebody a spot. We’re on the way to get Miley back.
"We don’t have off-days coming up. We have off days in the month of August. All that’s going to factor into some starting pitcher decisions. I hope we get to that point. We’re not there yet.
"We’ve got to get more healthy starting pitchers. If we get to more healthy starting pitchers, then we’re going to have to have a conversation about who’s not going to start."
More: Follow here for updates from the game
Brewers lineup
1. Christian Yelich, LF
2. William Contreras, DH
3. Carlos Santana, 1B
4. Sal Frelick, RF
5. Willy Adames, SS
6. Andrew Monasterio, 3B
7. Victor Caratini, C
8. Brice Turang, 2B
9. Joey Wiemer, CF
Starting pitcher
Julio Teheran, 2-4, 3.75 ERA
Up next
Sunday – Brewers at Braves, 12:30 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Colin Rea (5-4, 4.53) vs. Atlanta TBA. TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Braves hit three homers against Julio Teheran to blow out Brewers
