ANAHEIM, Calif. _ The Atlanta Braves played an unusual and exciting game Monday night at Angel Stadium, one where Julio Teheran gave up three home runs but, on balance, pitched quite effectively.
A game where Braves hitters went down in order in seven of nine innings and scored in just one inning, yet scored so much in that frame that Teheran could give up three homers in the first four innings _ including back-to-back jacks in the fourth _ and still have a comfortable lead most of the night.
The Braves scored six runs in the third inning, all with two outs, and held on for a 6-3 win against the Angels in an interleague series opener, just the second win in six games but their seventh consecutive series-opening win for the Braves.
Then Angels loaded the bases against Teheran with one out in the seventh inning and the Braves ahead 6-3, bringing ex-Brave Cameron Maybin to the plate with the potential tying runs on base. Reliever Jose Ramirez entered the fray and quashed the rally, inducing a double-play grounder on a full-count pitch, with rookie third baseman Rio Ruiz making a nice play to start the 5-4-3 inning-ender.
"I was pretty pumped about that," Ruiz said. "I was screaming, I was yelling. We got out of that inning. To get out of that inning for Julio _ he pitched his tail off today."
Teheran (4-4) gave up a home run to former Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons in the second inning and consecutive homers by Albert Pujols and Luis Valbuena, all three of those long balls coming on 0-1, four-seam fastballs clocked between 90-93 mph.
But all three homers came with bases empty and were the only three hits Teheran allowed through four innings, at which point the Braves still led 6-3.
"The offense was great at the beginning," Teheran said. "That's what you want, to get the lead. We were able to hold it the rest of the game."
The Braves chased Angels starter Ricky Nolasco during a third inning that saw them send 11 batters to the plate and get six runs on five hits, a walk and an error, the biggest blows coming on a bases-loaded two-run double from Matt Adams that gave Atlanta a 2-1 lead, and a two-run double off the right-field wall by Danny Santana that pushed the lead to 6-1.
They also got an RBI single from Ruiz, a Los Angeles-area player who native had plenty of family and friends in his cheering section.
"If you didn't hear them, I guess your ears were pretty shot," Ruiz said, smiling. "They were yelling nonstop when I came up to bat, and I heard a couple of them during the defensive times. ... Matt really started that (six-run inning) off having that good at-bat and driving those guys in. He was the kick-start for that. That was a huge inning."
Four of six runs in the inning were unearned after Tyler Flowers' hard-hit two-out grounder to third baseman Cliff Pennington was ruled an error, a tough play and ruling. "I felt bad for Pennington on that," Flowers said.
The Angels had two in scoring position in the fifth inning when Teheran struck out Kole Calhoun to get out of trouble, and after Ramirez bailed him out in the seventh Teheran finished with a solid pitching line despite the homers: 6 1/3 innings, six hits, three runs, one walk and five strikeouts in 91 pitches (61 strikes).
Teheran is 1-4 with a majors-worst 8.40 ERA in six home starts this season, but he's 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA, that road ERA having doubled in one night from a miniscule 0.71 entering Monday.
Teheran had allowed just two earned runs and no homers in four road starts before Monday, but all of those games were in the Eastern Time Zone. This was out West, where Teheran has come unglued on multiple occasions in the past.
Before Monday he allowed 20 homers in 100 2/3 innings during 17 career road starts against teams in the West _ 16 starts vs. National League West teams and one start at Seattle _ and complained of having grip problems after several of those games in cool, dry conditions. The temperature was in the mid-60s Monday with a cool breeze. But while he gave up a trio of homers, he kept the damage to a minimum by not putting runners on base before any of the long balls.
And he got plenty of run support, albeit all in one inning.
During a weekend series in San Francisco, Teheran said he was looking forward to seeing his friend Simmons, the defensive extraordinaire, and looking forward to facing him. But this wasn't what he had in mind: Simmons hit a line-drive homer to straightaway center with one out in the second inning for the first run of the game and his fifth homer of the season.
Pujols hit a line drive to left-center for his 598th career homer as he moved closer to becoming just the ninth player in major league history to reach the 600-homer plateau. He's also 12th all-time in doubles with 608, 16 behind legendary Braves slugger Hank Aaron.
"The only one mistake on those home runs, I think, was to Simmons," Teheran said. "He's a high-ball hitter, I made a mistake throwing high to him. Albert, I wanted to go in (and did throw an inside pitch), but he got me pretty good."
The Braves had a 6-1 lead before the Pujols homer, and still led 6-3 when Valbuena homered two pitches later. Simmons lined a shot to left field that briefly looked like it might be the third consecutive homer off Teheran, but it sailed foul and Teheran retired him on a groundout and got out of the inning without further damage.
