ATLANTA _ All-Star and three-time Braves Opening Day starter Julio Teheran has started 12 home games this season, and the Braves have lost 11 of them. Even for a team with baseball's worst record, that's hard to fathom.
Pitcher Jeremy Hellickson's two-run ground ball double down the third-base line in the fifth inning put the Phillies ahead to stay in a 9-5 win against the Braves at Turner Field. It was the Phillies' sixth win in their past seven games against the Braves, who need a win Sunday to salvage a split of the four-game series.
Working on a full week of rest since leaving his last start with back tightness, Teheran (3-9) lasted five innings and was charged with five hits, three runs and one walk with four strikeouts. He set down eight c consecutive batters before giving up singles to Cameron Rupp and Cody Asche start the fifth inning.
One out later, Hellickson's double gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead.
This was Teheran's first start since July 22 at Colorado, when he worked four scoreless innings before leaving after facing one batter in the fifth due to tightness in the latissimus dorsi area behind and below his pitching shoulder.
After Teheran gave up a run on two hits in the second inning including a leadoff double by Ryan Howard, the Braves took the lead with two runs in the third inning on four singles, including run-scoring two-out hits by Nick Markakis and Adonis Garcia.
Hellickson (8-7) was charged with nine hits in three runs in 52/3 innings, after going 3-1 with a 1.89 ERA and .193 opponents' average in his previous six starts and allowing one or no earned runs in five of those games. The Phillies have won six of his past seven starts.
After taking a 3-2 lead in the fifth, the Phillies added two runs in the sixth inning against left-hander Eric O'Flaherty, who retired the first batter and then gave up a walk, single, hit-by-pitch and two-run single to Freddy Galvis.
The Braves got a run in the sixth on Anthony Recker's two-out single, after Adonis Garcia walked and Ender Inciarte singled to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Pinch-hitter Brandon Snyder struck out with two on to end the inning. The Braves also stranded two runners in the third inning when Inciarte struck out.
The wheels came off for the Braves bullpen in a four-run eighth inning as the Phillies pushed the lead to 9-3.
For Teheran, three runs in five innings marked the first time he allowed more than two earned runs or lasted fewer than 62/3 innings against the Phillies since 2013. He had not faced them this season until Saturday, after going 5-1 with a 1.20 ERA in eight starts against them in the 2014-2015 seasons.
Teheran is 1-2 with a 2.56 ERA in his past seven starts, with 35 strikeouts and five walks in 452/3 innings. In that span only two of his starts have been on regular (four days') rest. Due to off days, injuries _ thing infection, back tightness _ and the All-Star break, his other starts in that period have been on five days' rest, six days' rest and three times on a full week of rest between starts.
He has a 2.81 ERA this season but a losing record due mainly to the majors worst run support _ the Braves scored 2.85 runs per nine innings pitched by Teheran before Saturday. The lack of offensive support has been even more acute at home.
Saturday was the 10th time the Braves scored two or fewer runs while Teheran was in the game in his 12 home starts this season, and the 13th time that's happened in his 15 home starts since Sept. 1. He's 1-5 with a 2.70 ERA in that stretch of 15 home starts, including 0-5 with a 3.07 ERA in 12 starts this season.
