SAN DIEGO – After an inspired eight-game Braves homestand that started and ended with walk-off homers, their West Coast road trip began with the resounding thud of an 11-4 loss to the Padres Monday night at Petco Park.
Braves starter Julio Teheran couldn’t reach 90 mph with his fastball, allowed three solo homers and was replaced after jamming his left thumb batting in the fifth inning and walking Jose Pirela to start the bottom of the fifth.
In came Luiz Gohara, who got rocked for six runs while recording just two outs in his first appearance in nearly two weeks, as the lead mushroomed from 3-2 to 10-2.
» More: Julio Teheran exits with thumb injury
It suddenly felt like a night from one of Atlanta’s three consecutive 90-loss seasons before this one as the National League East-leading Braves stumbled to their 15th loss in their past 17 games at Petco Park.
The momentum from the Braves’ just-completed 3-1 series win over the Nationals evaporated in a flurry of Padres hits, walks and homers.
It was Gohara’s first appearance since May 23, after he spent more than a week in Brazil on the bereavement list to be with his mother, who’s recovering from heart surgery.
The big rookie left-hander told team officials that he threw twice while home, so the decision was made to return him to the bullpen without a minor league rehab assignment.
The Padres teed off on him in the fifth inning, Gohara allowing six runs on six hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly and also allowing the runner to score who was on base when he replaced Teheran.
Teheran walked Pirela on four pitches to start the inning, drawing the second mound visit by Braves head trainer Georgia Poulis and manager Brian Snitker. Unlike the earlier visit, this time they didn’t return to the dugout without him.
The Braves announced immediately after the game that Teheran had exited due to a jammed right thumb. The earlier mound visit had come after Teheran was seen shaking a foot after doing something to it while covering first base, but he quickly assured them that wasn’t anything and that he was fine to continue.
Teheran has allowed eight homers and 15 walks in 28 innings over his past five starts.
Five of six hits that Gohara allowed in the fifth inning went for extra bases and seven consecutive batters reached base against him with two outs and his ERA climbed from 2.45 to 6.94. Finally, after three consecutive two-out doubles, he was replaced by Peter Moylan, who induced a ground-out to end the seven-run inning.
Snitker said Gohara had looked fine in a bullpen side session during the weekend but was clearly rusty Monday. Gohara said it was more a case of him getting too excited and speeding things up, and not realizing that until too late.
Padres starter Clayton Richard (4-6) limited the Braves to six hits, three runs and two walks in seven innings.
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