Winners at the break
Braves will rest at 52-42 after defeating Arizona
ATLANTA — Freddie Freeman likes how the Atlanta Braves are positioned with the first half of the season complete.
“It’s nice to have a winning record at the break,” the AllStar first baseman said. “It’s been a few years. This is right where we need to be. Get some rest and hope to come out with a bang.”
Julio Teheran pitched sixplus scoreless innings, and the Braves used a four-run third inning to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1 Sunday, avoiding a sweep in the three-game series.
It was a needed confidence boost before the All-Star break for Atlanta, which had lost eight of 10 and dropped to second in the NL East after leading the division for nearly six weeks. Atlanta goes into the break a half-game behind the Philadelphia Phillies.
“We obviously haven’t playing the way we wanted to the last couple of weeks, so to end on a good note for the first half — it was great,” Freeman said.
Teheran (7-6) allowed four hits and three walks, striking out six, before Jesse Biddle replaced him with one out in the seventh and stranded two runners.
Arizona has lost 10 of 16. Still, the Diamondbacks headed home with their 17th series win with a minimum of three games, tied for the most before the All-Star break in club history. They also matched last year’s franchise record with 53 wins at the season’s halfway mark.
Diamondbacks left-hander Patrick Corbin (6-4) extended his winless streak to seven starts after he gave up six hits, four runs and one walk in six innings. He struck out three, a season low.
The Braves went ahead 4-0 in the third. Johan Camargo singled and scored from first on Dansby Swanson’s double down the third-base line. Swanson advanced to third on Teheran’s bunt and scored on Ozzie Albies’ infield single.
Albies advanced to third on his single when third baseman Jake Lamb threw errantly to first. Albies then scored on Freeman’s double, and Freeman scored on Nick Markakis’ bloop single.
Corbin began the day 4-0 with a 0.98 ERA in five career starts and two relief appearances against Atlanta, but he couldn’t overcome the 31-pitch fourth.
“They had a couple of hits there, and I left a couple of balls up to Freeman and Markakis — I thought I made a good pitch inside that just fell in — and we had the tough roller there,” Corbin said. “That was the only inning I really had to work.”
Preston Tucker’s pinch-hit home run in the seventh off Randall Delgado put the Braves up 5-0.
Arizona’s John Jay homered off Dan Winkler in the eighth to make it 5-1.
Teheran pitched around a leadoff double by Daniel Descalso in the third and a leadoff single by Paul Goldschmidt in the fourth. He got an assist in the third when catcher Kurt Suzuki fielded Corbin’s bunt in the batter’s box and threw out Descaslo at third to begin a double play.
Teheran gave up a leadoff single to A.J. Pollock in the seventh but quickly picked him off. His day ended after he gave up a double to Lamb and issued a walk.
“I know the second half is going to be hard for us,” Teheran said. “We’re just trying to get our minds ready. I’m trying to get everything together so I can give a little more to the team.”
The MLB All-Star Game is Tuesday night in Washington, with the Nationals hosting the Midsummer Classic for the first time. The Nationals will also host the Braves when both teams return from the break Friday to start a three-game series.