ATLANTA _ The Braves were down to the last out of the ninth inning Sunday when Chase d'Arnaud ended a hot afternoon for everyone, avoiding extra innings, averting a sweep and giving the home fans something to feel good about from a brief, rough homestand.
D'Arnaud hit a two-out single in the ninth inning to give the Braves a 1-0 win against the Rockies, his second walk-off hit this season at Turner Field. He ended the Braves' June 15 win against the Reds with a 13th-inning game-ender on the night that Freddie Freeman hit for the cycle.
Julio Teheran pitched in last week's All-Star game, ranks among National League leaders in innings, WHIP and opponents' batting average and OBP, yet the Braves' two-time opening-day starter still has only three wins this season and none in 11 home starts.
Those trends continued Sunday, but the Braves mercifully bucked another trend by winning for just the second time in their past 12 games against the Rockies going back to June 2014.
Ender Inciarte led off the ninth inning with a single against Rockies reliever Gonzalez Germen, advanced to second on Anthony Recker's sacrifice bunt and went to third on a wild pitch. After Gordon Beckham popped out just beyond the infield, Jace Peterson drew a walk and went to second on defensive indifference.
After pitching a perfect inning Tuesday in the All-Star game, Teheran shone again by limiting the Rockies to three hits and one walk with five strikeouts in seven scoreless innings, and again got no decision.
He faced only two batters over the minimum before giving up a two-out double and walk in the seventh inning.
The Braves stranded multiple runners in four of the first seven innings and left a runner in scoring position in five of those seven innings while going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position during that stretch.
They started the game with consecutive singles from Jace Peterson and Chase d'Arnaud, then Freddie Freeman struck out and Nick Markakis lined into a double play to end the inning. Freeman struck out in all four of his plate appearances Sunday and went 0-for-11 with six strikeouts and one walk in the series.
Freeman had a cancerous mole removed from his upper back on Tuesday during the All-Star break and is playing for about 10 days with a few stitches used to close the incision. He also struck out after d'Arnaud's one-out single in the third inning, and Jeff Francoeur struck out with two on to end that inning.
Francoeur went 0-for-4 and struck out in each of his first three plate appearances. The Braves stranded two runners apiece in each of the first three innings.
Teheran got no decision to remain 0-4 with a 2.90 ERA in 11 home starts (he's 3-4 with a 2.67 ERA in eight road starts). The Braves have scored two runs or fewer while he was in nine of his 11 home starts.
In 25 starts since Sept. 1, he has a 2.51 ERA and only five wins. He's allowed two earned runs or fewer in 18 of those starts, and the Braves scored two runs or fewer while he was in 18 of those 25 games including one or no runs while he was in 10.
Rockies had only two runners reach base through six innings, and neither team advanced a runner to third base through eight innings.
Rockies starter Jon Gray _ pretty much as nondescript as his name _ came in with a 4.67 ERA and limited the Braves to five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in seven scoreless innings. To be fair, it was the seventh time in his past 10 starts that Gray allowed two earned runs or fewer, and he lowered his ERA to 3.11 in that stretch.
The right-hander gave up at least one homer in eight of his past nine starts before Sunday, but the Braves rank last in the majors in home runs by a wide margin with just 56, including one in the three-game series.
The Braves have 56 total home runs _ no other team had fewer than 77 before Sunday _ and are also last in the majors with 27 homers in 50 home games. Before Sunday, 14 teams had more than twice as many homers as the Braves in home games, and 12 teams had more than double the Braves' overall homer total.
