20-year-old Julio Teheran may have turned some heads in his first major league start Saturday, but he won’t come away with a win after allowing three runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Phillies.
Teheran allowed one run through three innings before Ryan Howard took him way out to right-center in the fourth. The fifth started with consecutive outs, but a four-pitch walk to Jimmy Rollins followed and Shane Victorino then delivered an RBI triple to knock Teheran out of the game.
While Teheran couldn’t deliver a quality start, he showed why he’s so highly regarded. He worked at 91-94 mph in the game and he had nice location of a low-80s changeup. He wasn’t very effective with his curve, in part because he didn’t get into a lot of two-strike counts. He recorded just one strikeout, that of Raul Ibanez in the fourth.
Teheran was just called up for the one start, and he’s expected to be sent back down to Triple-A Gwinnett on Sunday. Based on his showing tonight, the Braves won’t be afraid to go back to him if they lose a starter to injury. However, given that they also have Mike Minor waiting in the wings, there’s a good chance Teheran won’t be back until after the All-Star break.