The Braves were heavily victimized by the long ball on Tuesday, as Franmil Reyes in particular was dialed in against Julio Teheran. The Padres also got a great start from rookie Chris Paddack en route to a 4-3 victory over the Braves.
The evening began with Reyes depositing a slider into the left field seats in the top of the first inning, staking the Padres to a 1-0 lead against Teheran. For the Braves this was obviously an inauspicious start, but especially so given the propensity of Teheran to allow home runs. Reyes was hardly done after that opening blow, but more on that in a moment.
The Braves jumped ahead in the bottom of the second inning after a couple of singles by Nick Markakis and Johan Camargo, followed by a balk to advance the runners to 2nd and 3rd, and a Matt Joyce two-run single to put Atlanta up 2-1. That lead would be short-lived as, once again, Teheran was hit hard by Franmil Reyes, but this time it was an RBI double that accounted for the damage to make the score 2-2.
The score would hold until the sixth inning, when Reyes hit another solo homer off Teheran, this time into the Chop House bleachers in right field. The 23-year-old put on quite a display, and after this performance can comfortably say that he owns Julio Teheran. Two batters later, Eric Hosmer joined the fun, homering to center field to push the Padres lead to 4-2.
Meanwhile, starter Chris Paddack settled into a groove for the visiting team, allowing just the two runs in the second inning. The right-hander was brilliant with his command, changing speeds very well to keep Atlanta hitters off balance. He finished having completed six innings with two earned runs, striking out five while allowing just four hits and one walk. Paddack actually raised his ERA to 1.91 in this game, which further proves how dominant the Texas native has been over the first month of the season.
Conversely, Julio Teheran was very hittable in this game, as the Padres’ three home runs might suggest. Entering play, Teheran had allowed five homers on the season, with a 5.40 ERA. Those numbers improved, with the four runs allowed over seven innings bettering his average over the previous six starts he had made this season. Teheran did manage eight strikeouts and just one walk, but he missed out over the plate quite often, and the middle of the Padres order made him pay.
The Braves put together some semblance of a rally in each of the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, but could only manage a single run over those frames, which came on a Ronald Acuña RBI single in the eighth. In the ninth inning, Brian McCann led off with a line drive down the right field line off Kirby Yates for a solid single, and was promptly pinch-run for by Charlie Culberson. After a Matt Joyce strikeout for the first out of the inning, Culberson attempted a steal with a Tyler Flowers at the plate. He was thrown out by a wide margin, and Flowers struck out on the next pitch to end the game.
Atlanta had opportunities in multiple innings, but once again struggled mightily with runners on base, and more specifically with runners in scoring position. As Kevin McAlpin noted when the Braves failed to score in the seventh inning:
#Braves had two on and one out in the seventh and weren't able to push across a run after Inciarte struck out swinging and Albies grounded out.
— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) May 1, 2019
Atlanta now in a 9-for-74 slump with RISP over the last eight games.@680TheFan
The Braves will need some improvement from Teheran in the future, as the loud contact against him has become more consistent. On a positive note, Atlanta got two scoreless innings from its relief corps tonight, with Dan Winkler and Grant Dayton each retiring the Padres in order. The Braves will take on the Padres once again on Wednesday as Max Fried takes on Cal Quantrill.