ATLANTA _ The Braves nearly got to September without their Opening Day pitcher having a win at home, but rookie Dansby Swanson helped see that Julio Teheran's Turner Field drought ended Tuesday.
Teheran worked seven strong innings and Swanson had three two-out RBIs in a 7-3 series-opening win against the Padres at Turner Field, where the Braves have 17 games remaining before the place is a baseball stadium no more, and where they won for just the 20th time this season.
In a five-run third inning that chased Padres starter Edwin Jackson from the game, it was Teheran (4-9) who led off with a double. The Braves got four consecutive hits to start the inning including run-scoring singles from Adonis Garcia and Freddie Freeman, and Jace Peterson and Swanson added RBI singles before the inning was through.
Swanson also had a two-run double in the fifth inning to push the lead back to 7-2, after the Padres scored their only runs in the fourth on a two-run, two-out homer by Oswaldo Arcia. That was the only inning in which more than four batters faced Teheran, who gave up six hits, two runs and no walks with eight strikeouts in seven innings.
Swanson got his fourth two-hit game in the rookie shortstop's 10th major league start. The Braves have won five of the past seven games in which he's been in the starting lineup, and lost all three games when he hasn't been in the lineup. He had one extra-base hit and one RBI before Tuesday.
Not only did Teheran get his first home win, the Braves also won for just the second time in his 14 home starts. He was 0-5 despite a 3.22 ERA in home games before Tuesday, and the Braves had provided less than 2.1 support runs per nine innings pitched by Teheran at Turner Field before scoring five runs in the third inning against Jackson.
Jackson is 0-3 with a 13.89 ERA in his past three starts, allowing 23 hits, 18 runs and 10 walks with five strikeouts in just 112/3 innings over that span. He did manage to keep the ball in the park against the Braves after giving up three homers in five innings against the Cubs in a home game in his last start before Tuesday.
The veteran right-hander has a 7.76 ERA in his past six starts, and in four of those games Jackson allowed five or more earned runs in five or fewer innings. In 12 career games against the Braves including eight starts, Jackson is 0-7 with a 6.61 ERA.
Teheran entered Tuesday with the majors' worst run support _ 2.9 per nine innings pitched, more than half-run lower than the next-worst. However, the Braves scored four runs while he was in the game in three of his previous seven starts, and in those games Teheran had allowed five, five and six earned runs. He was 0-2 with a 4.99 ERA in those seven starts including six Braves losses.
After they staked him to a big lead in the third inning Tuesday, Teheran gave up a leadoff triple and the Arcia homer in the next inning, then retired 10 of the last 12 batters he faced. Reliever Jose Ramirez struck out all three Padres in the eighth before Ian Krol gave up a run in the ninth.
