The Braves returned home to SunTrust Park after 10 days away and produced some strange sights with right-hander Julio Teheran against the Mets.
Teheran usually handles their NL East rivals but he was so ineffective on Monday that the Braves had the bullpen working in the fourth inning. And the Braves don’t typically produce a lot of runs for Teheran but this time scored enough of them that they nearly saved him.
They couldn’t quite do it, though, and lost 7-5 in the series opener. The Mets put the Braves in a 6-1 hole after four innings and held off the home team’s comeback attempts.
“We’re all swinging the bat pretty well,” Braves left fielder Matt Kemp said. “It’s one of those games where we pretty much just got out-hit but I like the way our lineup is (producing). We are getting some big hits, we are making things happen.”
Mets outfielder Michael Conforto’s home run to lead off the game was answered by Ender Inciarte’s lead-off homer in the bottom of the inning. That first run appeared to be a blip for Teheran after he retired the next nine batters in a row but the Mets batted around against him while scoring five runs in the fourth.
Asdrubal Cabrera led off with a single, Jay Bruce followed with a double and Neil Walker scored Cabrera with a single. Teheran walked Curtis Granderson to load the bases with no outs before Jose Reyes’ ground out scored Bruce.
With first base empty, Braves manager Brian Snitker opted to intentionally walk Travis d’Arnaud. The next hitter, T.J. Rivera, slapped a single to center field that scored Walker. Conforto’s two-out single scored two runs, with d’Arnaud safe on a play at the plate.
The Mets (11-14) touched Teheran for six runs over six innings.
“I tried everything,” Teheran said. “Whenever you feel like you don’t have your stuff, all you’ve got to do is battle. I battled that (fourth) inning. I didn’t (stray) off my plan. I stayed the same but it just didn’t work.”
Teheran was 8-3 with a 2.25 ERA 17 previous games (16 starts) against the Mets, including a scoreless six-inning start at New York on April 3. Only Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer had a better ERA against the Mets since 2011, Teheran’s first year in the majors.
Teheran limited the Mets to two earned runs over 6 1/3 innings during an 8-2 Braves victory at New York on Wednesday. In the start before that the Nationals knocked Teheran around for seven runs over four innings.
“I am just trying to keep my mind strong,” Teheran said. “I know where I want to to be and the team knows what I can do. I’m trying to work on it and we will see whenever it gets better.”
The Braves lost their fourth straight game in their new ballpark after winning the first four there. Teheran is 1-2 with a 8.44 ERA in three home starts and 1-0 with a 0.93 ERA on the road.
The Mets led 6-1 after the big fourth inning against Teheran. The Braves got within 6-3 in the bottom of the inning on RBIs by Nick Markakis and Adonis Garcia and then added two more runs on RBIs by those players in the sixth.
After Garcia’s sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, Tyler Flowers hit a two-out single against reliever Josh Edgin and Dansby Swanson followed with a walk. Lane Adams, pinch hitting for Teheran, hit a shallow fly ball that center fielder Curtis Granderson snagged to end the inning.
The Mets added another run in the ninth on Curtis Granderson’s solo homer against left-hander Ian Krol. The high fly ball looked as if it might be an out before it it carried over the wall in left field as Kemp jumped and reached for it.
“I didn’t think he hit it that good but it took off,” Snitker said.
The Braves had two other good chances to score.
Flowers grounded into a double play to end the fourth inning. The fifth ended when catcher d’Arnaud quickly corralled a pitch that that skidded past him and bounced against the backstop with Freddie Freeman at bat. D’Arnaud started a run down of Teheran, who was stranded off of second base because Ender Inciarte had tried to advance from first to second.
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