Teheran leads Braves to win
WASHINGTON — Julio Teheran has been unbeatable in his starts away from SunTrust Park this season.
Against the Nationals on Saturday, the Atlanta right-hander came through with his bat as well.
Teheran pitched seven strong innings to keep up his road dominance and added a career-high three RBIs, while Nick Markakis and Johnan Camargo each had three hits as the Braves beat Washington 13-0.
Teheran (7-6) gave up four hits while walking two and striking out five to improve to 6-0 in nine road starts this season. He singled twice against Stephen Strasburg to improve to 4-for-7 in his career against him.
“What hurt were, early in the game, Suzuki with those key hits and Teheran with those key hits,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “They had driven in four of the first five runs — the bottom of the order.”
Strasburg (9-3) was hit on his hip by a line drive from Markakis in the third and left after the inning. He gave up six runs (three earned) and seven hits in his shortest outing of the season.
“I definitely could have kept going but just got singled to death,” said Strasburg, who gave up five singles and two doubles.
Markakis hit his fourth home run of the season and teammate Matt Adams added his 14th.
The Braves have taken two out of three to pull 8 1/2 games behind Washington in the NL East. The Nationals were shut out for the first time this season. Before Saturday, they were only the National League team that had not been blanked in 2017.
“I hate to get shut out, but it’s our first shutout of the year,
we were last in our league,” Baker said. “Hopefully we can go another 80-something games without getting shut out.”
With Atlanta already up 3-0 in the third, Markakis lined a pitch right back at Strasburg that caught the pitcher on the hip. Strasburg picked up the ball and made an errant throw to second, allowing Markakis to reach first as Matt Kemp advanced to third.
Baker, pitching coach Mike Maddux, and trainer Paul Lessard all came to the mound to check on Strasburg, who stayed in the game to face five more hitters before getting out of the inning in a 6-0 hole. Kurt Suzuki’s two-out RBI single and Teheran’s two-run RBI single in the third both came after Strasburg’s shot to the hip.
“When (Teheran) was leaving (the dugout) I said, ‘Way to swing the bat,’” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “The bottom of the order had a really big day.”
The Nationals’ Tanner Roark entered in the fourth — his first relief appearance of the season — and allowed three runs and four hits.
The Braves scored one run each in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings before adding four in the ninth.
Atlanta improved to 6-6 against the Nationals after going 4-15 against them last year. The Braves have won four of six in Washington this year after dropping 23 of their previous 25 road games against the Nationals.
On the injury front, Braves utility player Sean Rodriguez went 0-for-3 with an RBI and a walk in his first rehab assignment for Class AAA Gwinnett on Friday. Rodriquez signed as a free agent in November but missed the entire first half of the season while recovering from left rotator cuff surgery.