Teheran hopes for fifth straight opening-day start
KISSIMMEE — Julio Teheran is lined up to make his fifth straight opening-day start for the Atlanta Braves.
“I’ve been there the last four years, and that’s a spot I want to be my whole career,” the 27-year-old righthander said Wednesday after pitching five innings in a 5-3 exhibition win over Philadelphia. “To be there, you’ve got to gain that spot. I’m working to show them I can be that guy and that I can represent.”
Teheran is 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA in 14 innings during spring training. He was 11-13 with a 4.49 ERA last season, almost a run above his 3.59 career ERA.
Mike Foltynewicz, Brandon McCarthy and lefthander Sean Newcomb are the other pitchers projected to be in the rotation.
Teheran is 1-1 with two no-decisions on opening day. He pitched six shutout innings last year in a 6-0 loss to the New York Mets.
“I don’t know if I’m going to be that guy again, but it would be a great honor again,” he said after giving up his first two runs of the exhibition season. “I’ll just concentrate on what I’m going to be working on.”
He hit two batters with runners on base.
“I didn’t think he was as sharp as he has been,” manager Brian Snitker said. “But his intensity was a little more than a spring training game. He was really working on stuff and competing really well.”
Teheran gave up a long home run to Jorge Alfaro. He will get two more spring training starts before the March 29 opener at home against Philadelphia. In the first season of Sun Trust Park, Teheran was 3-10 with a 5.86 ERA, down from 8-3 with a 3.14 ERA on the road.
“I’ve heard the explanation that it was the new ballpark,” Teheran said, “but that’s something that was last year. I’m not thinking about that anymore. Hopefully I’ll do just as well at home this year.”