NO ON TEHRAN'S NO-NO
Braves Pull-Out 'W' in "Game of the Year'

ATLANTA, May 9 (AP) - Julio Teheran tossed nine no-hit innings, but wasn't credited with a no-hitter.  Instead, he very nearly ended up the loser.  In the end, the Atlanta Braves earned a hard fought 1-0 walk-off victory in the bottom of the 12th inning over the Cubs at Turner Field in what is already being described as an "instant classic."  Teheran became the first major league pitcher to take a no-hitter into the ninth inning and did all of his compatriots one better by striking out the side in the ninth.  The only problem was, his teammates couldn't push a run across against Cubs starter Jason Hammel.

Teheran, who got off to a terrible start this season before righting the ship recently, had such electric stuff this day that he occasionally had difficulty controlling it.  Despite not allowing a hit, he didn't manage a 1-2-3 inning until the sixth.  Emil Bonifacio reached on an error leading off the game and Teheran walked a batter in each of the next four frames.  But Chicago couldn't push a baserunner past second.

Hammel, for his part, was outstanding.  Though any thoughts of a no-hitter on his part were dashed on Freddie Freeman's two-out single in the bottom of the first, Hammel continuously stymied any would-be Atlanta uprising.  This despite the fact that the Braves ran wild on the base paths.  Atlanta accrued a major league season high six stolen bases in the game, two apiece by Jason Heyward and B.J. Upton.  The Braves entered the contest with only nine stolen bases in 33 games. 

The game was scoreless and Teheran was in the midst of 14 consecutive batters retired after setting the Cubs down in order in the top of the seventh when the Braves finally had the contest's first truly excellent scoring opportunity in the bottom half of the inning.  Chris Johnson led off with a single to center and stole his first base of the year.  B.J. Upton singled sharply to left; Johnson had to hold for a moment to make sure that the ball went through and could only advance to third, putting runners on the corners with no outs.  Upton then stole second on the first pitch to Andrelton Simmons, giving Atlanta second and third and no outs.  The Cubs held a meeting on the mound.  Manager Rick Renteria stayed with Hammel and brought his infield in.  Simmons lifted a fly to shallow left that left fielder Ryan Kalish handled for the first out.  That brought Teheran to the plate.  Had a no-hitter not been on the line he almost certainly would have been lifted for a pinch hitter, but Braves skipper Fredi Gonzalez dutifully let Teheran hit for himself.  He managed to put the ball in play, rolling a weak grounder to second.  The Braves had the contact play on and Johnson was cut down at the plate, easily, for the second out.  Ramiro Pena then tapped one back to the mound to end the inning, as the Cubs dodged a bullet.

Undaunted, Teheran went back to the mound and retired John Baker and Hammel easily, bringing Bonifacio to the plate.  After working the count full the Chicago center fielder appeared to put an end to the no-hit bid with a sharp grounder that seemed ticketed for center field.  But Simmons made a sprawling stop and gunned Bonifacio out at first base, a play that brought a roar and standing ovation from the crowd of better than 36,000.

Heyward opened the bottom of the eighth with a base hit and, as the Cubs bullpen busied itself, he stole second base.  But Hammel fanned Justin Upton and retired Freeman on a fly just shy of the warning track in right, which advanced Heyward to third with two outs.  Hammel then retired Evan Gattis on a comebacker to end the inning.

Remarkably, Teheran--who hadn't worked past the seventh inning all season, came out for the ninth and struck out the side, earning another standing ovation from the crowd as he headed back to the dugout.

Hammel surrendered a one-out single and another stolen base to B.J. Upton in the bottom of the ninth but got Simmons on a fly ball to right with Upton tagging and taking third.  Again, Teheran was due up with the winning run on third.  Prior to Simmons at bat, Gonzalez had sent Ryan Doumit into the on-deck circle as the would-be pinch hitter, but after Simmons was retired, Doumit was recalled and Teheran was sent to the plate.  The crowd came to its feet again, screaming in hopes of Teheran being able to secure his own no-hitter.  But Hammel fired a third strike past him, his tenth punch out of the game, to end the inning.

Teheran went back to the mound in the 10th--the first time this season that a major league starting pitcher had taken the mound in extra innings.  And after falling behind Nate Schierholtz 3-1, he fired a fastball and Schierholtz ripped it into the right-center field gap for a triple.  With the no-hit bid officially gone, Gonzalez came to the mound to relieve Teheran who left to a thunderous ovation from the crowd.

The no-hitter was gone and it appeared that the game might be as well.  Gonzalez summoned southpaw Luis Avilan from the bullpen to face lefty-swinging Luis Valbuena and Avilan rose to the occasion, striking Valbuena out.  Gonzalez then called on his closer, Craig Kimbrel, to finish the Cubs off.  Renteria countered with Chris Coughlan as a pinch hitter for Mike Olt, but it was no use.  Kimbrel fanned Coughlan for the second out.  With the crowd still on its feet and roaring, Kimbrel walked Baker, bringing Darwin Barney up as the pinch hitter for Hammel.  Kimbrel struck out Barney, swinging, on three pitches.

James Russell came on for the Cubs in the bottom of the tenth and set the Braves down easily.  Kimbrel stayed on in the top of the 11th and duplicated the feat.

Russell fanned Freeman to open the bottom of the 11th, and was replaced by Brian Schlitter, who easily set down Gattis and Johnson.  Alex Wood took over on the mound for the Braves, making his first relief appearance of the year after seven starts, and had no difficulty dispatching the Cubs in the top of the 12th, retiring two of the three batters he faced on strikes.

In the bottom of the 12th, it happened.  B.J. Upton hit a routine grounder to shortstop Starlin Castro who bobbled the ball for an error.  On the very first pitch to Simmons, Upton broke for second as if to attempt to steal his third base of the day.  But Simmons slapped the ball through the right side of the infield.  The perfectly executed hit-and-run put runners on first and third with no outs.  Jordan Schafer was summoned from the Atlanta dugout to hit for Wood.  Chicago countered with left-hander Zach Rosscup.  Gonzalez then called on Tyler Pastornicky to pinch hit for the pinch hitter.  With the infield drawn in, Pastorinicky lined a clean single between short and third.  Upton danced home with the winning run--the only run of the game--and the crowd, which had stayed almost entirely intact throughtout the entire 3 1/2 hour contest, celebrated in the stands.

The Braves pitching staff had thrown a combined 12-inning one-hitter.  It was the fifth one-hitter of the major league season, the first by a National League club and the only one to go into extra innings.

5/9/2014, ChN14-Atl14, Turner Field
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12     R  H  E   LOB DP
2014 Cubs              0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0     0  1  1     6  0
2014 Braves            0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1     1 10  1    10  1
 
Cubs                 AB  R  H BI   AVG    Braves               AB  R  H BI   AVG
Bonifacio         cf  5  0  0  0  .279    Heyward           rf  5  0  2  0  .248
Kalish            lf  4  0  0  0  .304    Upton,J           lf  5  0  1  0  .232
Rizzo             1b  5  0  0  0  .254    Freeman,F         1b  5  0  1  0  .276
Castro,S          ss  5  0  0  0  .297    Gattis            c   5  0  0  0  .298
Schierholtz       rf  5  0  1  0  .178    Johnson,C         3b  5  0  1  0  .235
Valbuena          2b  3  0  0  0  .247    Upton,B           cf  5  1  2  0  .238
Olt               3b  3  0  0  0  .132    Simmons,A         ss  5  0  2  0  .243
 Coghlan          ph  1  0  0  0  .250    Teheran           p   4  0  0  0  .056
 Russell          p   0  0  0  0  .000     Avilan           p   0  0  0  0  .000
 Schlitter        p   0  0  0  0  .000     Kimbrel          p   0  0  0  0  .000
 Rosscup          p   0  0  0  0  .000     Wood,A           p   0  0  0  0  .154
Baker,Jo          c   2  0  0  0  .152     Schafer,J        ph  0  0  0  0  .269
Hammel            p   2  0  0  0  .071     Pastornicky      ph  1  0  1  1  .250
 Barney           ph  1  0  0  0  .234    Pena,R            2b  4  0  0  0  .279
                     36  0  1  0                               44  1 10  1
 
Cubs                             INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Hammel                           9.0  8  0  0  0 10 118  85  2.31
Russell                          1.1  0  0  0  0  2  13  10  1.59
Schlitter        L 1-2           0.2  1  1  0  0  0  12  10  3.72
Rosscup                          0.0  1  0  0  0  0   3   2  0.00
                                11.0 10  1  0  0 12 146 107
 
Braves                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Teheran                          9.0  1  0  0  4  6 124  77  4.01
Avilan                           0.1  0  0  0  0  1   5   3  5.59
Kimbrel                          1.2  0  0  0  1  3  26  15  0.00
Wood,A           W 3-3           1.0  0  0  0  0  2  14  10  4.00
                                12.0  1  0  0  5 12 169 105
 
ChN: Coghlan batted for Olt in the 10th
     Barney batted for Hammel in the 10th
     Valbuena moved to 3b in the 10th
     Barney moved to 2b in the 10th
Atl: Schafer,J batted for Wood,A in the 12th
     Pastornicky batted for Schafer,J in the 12th
 
E-Castro,S, Pena,R. 3B-Schierholtz(3). RBI-Pastornicky(2). SB-Heyward 2(6),
Upton,J(2), Johnson,C(1), Upton,B 2(5). K-Kalish, Rizzo 2, Castro,S,
Schierholtz 3, Valbuena 2, Olt, Coghlan, Barney, Heyward, Upton,J 2,
Freeman,F, Gattis, Johnson,C, Upton,B, Teheran 3, Pena,R 2. BB-Kalish,
Valbuena 2, Baker,Jo 2. SH-Hammel.
GWRBI: Pastornicky
Temperature: 93, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 15 MPH.
Attendance: 36,092
Game Time: 3:28