Braves Starting Rotation Headed for Sub-2.00 ERA in April
The Atlanta Braves lead the National League East by 3 ½ games after less than a month of the season has been played. The Braves are 17-7 on the season and have won four straight and 7 of their past 10.
Much of the Braves success is thanks to their starting rotation on the mound. Just 24 games have been played and the starters for Atlanta have allowed two or more earned runs in a game just six times.
Julio Teheran threw the latest gem for the Braves with eight innings of shutout pitching on Sunday versus the Cincinnati Reds.
Teheran could not afford to err in the game, as Johnny Cueto the Cincinnati starter matched him shutout inning for shutout inning.
The game was then handed over to each respective bullpen and Atlanta was able to score a win in the 10th on a walk off single by Freddie Freeman with two outs.
It was Atlanta’s fourth consecutive win and the Braves own the second best record in baseball behind just the 18-7 record of Milwaukee. Atlanta also leads the National League with a plus-31 run differential.
Teheran was pitching against one of the hottest hurlers in baseball in Cueto. The Reds right-hander has not given up a run in 30 straight innings pitched. However, Teheran is not too shabby himself not allowing a run in his last 24 innings pitched.
One of the games in those 24 innings pitched was a shutout and complete game win of 1-0 against Cliff Lee.
Teheran is today a No. 1 starter as over his past 32 starts only Alex Fernandez and Clayton Kershaw have ERAs lower than Teheran’s of 2.58.
A major reason for the success of Teheran had been his improved slider. Hitters have a .111 batting average against his slider. He has fanned 14 and walked none on that pitch.
In his rookie season last year, Tehran struck out 51 batters in 152 plate appearances when he ended with the slider. However, he also tended to leave the pitch flat and up in the zone at times giving up 9 of his 22 home runs on that pitch.
On Sunday, Tehran only had five strikeouts, but he also gave up only three hits. His pitches had great movement on them. The defense behind him also played well. The team entered Sunday’s game leading the majors in defensive runs saved with 27.
The big question is can the starting rotation keep this up for the other 85% of the season. Mike Minor is due back at the end of this week, which will be a plus for the team.
It is doubtful the starting pitching can maintain a staff ERA of 1.57 with an opponent’s batting line of just .201/.261/.279.
However, it is a phenomenal stretch of pitching and reminds many baseball fans, especially those from the Atlanta area of Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine.
In the past 30 years, only six teams have had a starting rotation with an ERA less than 2.00 during a calendar month. Of the six, two are the Atlanta Braves and a third could be this season’s team, if the starters throw well through Wednesday.
Atlanta has two more games to play in April against Miami on Tuesday and Wednesday, to complete its historic month.
