The Atlanta Braves hope that isn’t the case with their starter as well.
Atlanta right-hander Julio Teheran will make his first start since being activated from the disabled list Saturday to face San Diego Riley Ridley Jersey , which will use a bullpen game in the finale of the four-game series at SunTrust Park.
The Braves (41-29) increased their lead in the National League East to 2 1/2 games with a 1-0 victory on Saturday that guaranteed the Padres (34-39) wouldn’t win a sixth consecutive series.
Teheran (4-4, 4.31 ERA) came out after one batter in the fifth inning of a loss at San Diego on June 4 because of a right thumb contusion and hopes the rest during his DL stint will help him regain some of his lost velocity.
The 27-year-old former all-star gave up three homers while losing his third straight start. His average fastball velocity this season is 89.2 mph compared with 91.4 mph last year.
Even before jamming a finger while batting, Teheran’s fastballs were mostly in the 85-87 mph range against the Padres, and three long balls raised his season total to 14.
“My arm has been sore,” Teheran admitted for the first time last Sunday while the Braves were in Los Angeles playing the Dodgers. “Obviously as a pitcher you have games where you don’t feel 100 percent. This year for me it’s been kind of up and down.”
Teheran is 1-3 with a 6.11 ERA and eight home runs allowed in 28 innings during his past five starts.
“Whenever you’re fighting through soreness, one day you feel good and the next day you don’t. You still go out there and compete,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a big deal. But working on it, we’ll see if this (next) couple of months we’ll get my velo back.”
Right-handed reliever Matt Strahm (1-2, 2.55) will get his fourth spot start for the Padres as manager Andy Green turns to his bullpen to fill in the rotation spot left open by the hip injury to rookie left-hander Joey Lucchesi.
Strahm has a 1.23 ERA in 7 1/3 innings as a starter after throwing three perfect innings in the Padres’ victory over the Cardinals in St. Louis on Tuesday.
Submarine right-hander Adam Cimber followed Strahm with one-hit ball for three scoreless innings and the Padres won their second straight bullpen game after a victory over the Braves on June 6 in San Diego.
“It’s got to be tough as a hitter Jonah Williams Jersey ,” Green said. “First, you have a lefty slinger throwing 95-96 (mph). Next at-bat, you’ve got a drop-down righty coming from underneath. It’s just two radically different looks, and it plays well off each other and keeps guys uncomfortable. By the time you’re up a third time, you’re facing a back-end reliever.”
Strahm pitched a perfect inning in relief against the Braves two days before his start in San Diego, when he allowed a first-inning homer by Freddie Freeman but only one other hit in 2 1/3 innings of the 3-1 win by the Padres.
Teheran’s 11-4 loss in San Diego gave him a 4-3 record and 4.13 ERA in nine career starts against the Padres.
Matt Carpenter had a hunch a fastball was coming. When the pitch arrived, he delivered.
Carpenter hit a tiebreaking solo homer with two out in the ninth, helping the St. Louis Cardinals edge the Philadelphia Phillies 7-6 on Tuesday night.
Carpenter also had a tying two-run double in St. Louis’ four-run seventh. Tommy Pham homered and singled for the Cardinals, and Kolten Wong also went deep.
Odubel Herrera and Carlos Santana connected for the Phillies.
Seranthony Dominguez (1-1) struck out the first two batters in the ninth and had Carpenter in a 0-2 hole. But Carpenter lined the next pitch Drew Sample Jersey , a 98-mph fastball, over the wall in right to extend his homer streak to three games.
Carpenter noticed Dominguez shake off catcher Jorge Alfaro just before the 0-2 pitch and believed the right-hander wanted to throw a fastball.
”I wouldn’t say I sold out for it, but I was ready for it,” he said.
A hard-throwing rookie, Dominguez began his career by tossing 15 2/3 scoreless innings and entered with 27 strikeouts and a 1.27 ERA in 21 1/3 innings.
”You have to step in the box ready to go,” Carpenter said.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said Dominguez’s pace actually helped Carpenter.
”You’ve got a guy with that live of an arm, you just need to get the barrel to it,” Matheny said. ”It was a nice swing path.”
The Cardinals trailed 4-2 before rallying against Vince Velasquez and Tommy Hunter.
Velasquez got the first out of the seventh before a single and hit batsman brought manager Gabe Kapler to the mound. Hunter got pinch-hitter Greg Garcia to line out to left before Carpenter doubled, Pham singled and Jose Martinez made it 6-4 with another two-run double.
The Phillies tied it in the eighth on Rhys Hoskins‘ two-run double. Austin Gomber started the inning Germaine Pratt Jersey , but was lifted for Jordan Hicks (3-1) with two out and runners on first and second. Three of Hicks’ four pitches to Hoskins were fastballs that registered at least 100 mph, but the slugger drove the final 101-mph heater into the gap in right-center.
Hicks pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two, to secure the victory.
”Frustrating game to lose, obviously,” Kapler said.
The Phillies opened the scoring with Santana’s RBI groundout in the first. Pham extended his career-best hitting streak to 13 games with a two-out homer to deep left in the third, tying it at 1.
Herrera continued his hot hitting against St. Louis by driving the first pitch he saw in the third, a 79-mph curveball, into the seats in right for a 2-1 Phillies lead.
Cesar Hernandez’s bases-loaded walk in the fourth made it 3-1 Ryan Finley Jersey , but Philadelphia wasted a chance for more when Luke Weaver got Hoskins to pop out to shortstop before fanning Herrera to leave the bases full.
BAD BREAK
The Phillies also lost infielder J.P. Crawford for four to six weeks when he was hit by a Weaver pitch in the fourth, fracturing his left hand.
”It’s really tough,” Kapler said. ”I feel for him the man. I feel for him the player.”
ROAD RAKING
Carpenter has hits in 12 straight road games and is batting .412 with six homers and 11 RBIs over that streak.
FOR STARTERS
The Cardinals’ rally took Weaver off the hook. Weaver was in line for his fifth straight loss when he left after permitting four runs and six hits in five innings.
Velasquez was charged with four runs and four hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked three.
CRAZY ABOUT CARDS
Herrera is batting .360 with five homers and 21 RBIs in 25 career games against the Cardinals.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: RHP Matt Bowman (blister right hand) was placed on the 10-day disabled list and replaced by RHP Greg Holland. Holland pitched a perfect seventh with a pair of strikeouts.
Phillies: OF Nick Williams suffered a broken nose in the field on Monday night, and Kapler said after Tuesday’s game that Williams would go through concussion protocol on Wednesday before getting clearance to play.
UP NEXT
Cardinals RHP Michael Wacha (8-2, 3.24 ERA) will oppose Phillies RHP Jake Arrieta (5-5, 3.33 ERA) in the series finale Wednesday afternoon. Wacha had his career-best eight-game winning streak snapped in a 13-5 loss to the Cubs in his last start. Arrieta will try to help the Phillies win their first series over St. Louis since August 24, 2014.