It's rare that a team needs to win a game. The Braves needed to win both of their games today. They did exactly that, and they did so with a strong pitching performance from Julio Teheran.
Teheran, making the third start of his career, settled in nicely after a rough first inning and ended up working 5.1 innings. The 20-year old allowed just one run on five hits and two walks, all while striking out three. For a pitcher who had struggled -- well, struggled for his standards at least -- in the last month at Triple-A Gwinnett, the righty came up with a big performance when the team needed it.
Christian Martinez, Eric O'Flaherty and Anthony Varvaro all impressed out of the bullpen and the trio combined to work 3.2 innings of no-run baseball.
With Chipper Jones hitting second once again in the lineup, the Braves scored early in the first inning on a Dan Uggla single up the middle. After Jason Bay tied the game with a sacrifice fly, David Ross singled in the fifth to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead. Chipper Jones drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, and the team added an insurance run with a David Ross solo-home run.
Michael Bourn tripled with two outs in the ninth and Jones brought him in with a double down the right field line. Varvaro came in and closed out the game with a strikeout of Josh Satin.
With the doubleheader sweep in hand, the team will hop on a plane once again and head to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals. With a 7.5 game lead in the wild card, a series victory for Atlanta could all-but-clinch the NL wild card for the second year in a row.