ATLANTA -- Julio Teheran has not garnered widespread national attention that has been showered upon Jose Fernandez. But like the Marlins' ace, Teheran has spent the first month of his second Major League season proving he already belongs in any conversation about baseball's elite pitchers.Given a chance to compete against one of the game's best on Sunday afternoon at Turner Field, Teheran matched zeros with Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto over eight innings and then saw his effort rewarded when the Braves claimed a 1-0 win in 10 innings over the Reds, courtesy of Freddie Freeman's walk-off single. 
Jason Heyward fueled the decisive 10th inning with a two-out single off former Braves prospect J.J. Hoover. B.J. Upton followed with a single that deflected off Hoover's glove and died in the infield grass. This prompted the entry of left-handed reliever Manny Parra, who allowed Freeman to drill his game-winning single off the right-center-field wall.Along with notching their 12th win in their past 15 games, the Braves also recorded their second series sweep this season, both at home. Atlanta's starting pitchers -- David Hale and Teheran -- surrendered a total of five hits over the final two games of this weekend's three-game set.Teheran limited the Reds to three hits over eight scoreless innings and notched three of his five strikeouts with a runner on second base. The 23-year-old Braves starter has allowed just one run over his past 24 innings, and in the process, he whittled his ERA down to 1.47.Cueto surrendered three hits and notched 11 strikeouts over eight scoreless innings. His 114-pitch effort extended the mastery he had produced while notching complete-game victories in his two previous starts. The Reds right-hander has allowed one run over his past 30 innings.Teheran and Cueto both cruised through the first four innings in relatively easy fashion, and then each pitcher notched a big strikeout to end the fifth-inning threats that they encountered. Ryan Ludwick opened the top of the fifth with a double down the left-field line and then advanced to third base on Brayan Pena's flyout to right field. Teheran responded by ending the threat with consecutive strikeouts against Zack Cozart and Cueto.After surrendering Justin Upton's two-out single in the first inning, Cueto retired each of the next 11 batters he faced. His dominant run ended when Andrelton Simmons bounced a double over the right-center-field wall in the bottom of the fifth. Gerald Laird followed with a four-pitch walk, and Teheran then executed a sacrifice-bunt attempt. But Heyward stranded Simmons and Laird on an inning-ending strikeout.The Braves threatened again in the sixth, when B.J. Upton doubled with two outs and Chris Johnson followed with a walk. But Cueto escaped unscathed when he struck out Dan Uggla for the third time in the game. This was the third three-strikeout game during this homestand for Uggla, who has been set down on strikes in 10 of his past 17 at-bats.Teheran distanced himself from the fifth-inning threat in a much more comfortable manner. He benefited from two defensive gems provided by Freeman and Uggla in the sixth inning, and he ended up retiring 11 of the final 12 batters he faced. His only blemish during this span came when he issued a one-out, eighth-inning walk to Cozart, who had struck out in his two previous at-bats.Freeman's diving stab of Billy Hamilton's sharp grounder to begin the sixth robbed Hamilton of a potential triple. Before Ludwick's fifth-inning leadoff double, the only hits the Reds had recorded were Hamilton's third-inning bunt single and Pena's second-inning double, which bounced out of B.J. Upton's glove after the Braves center fielder seemingly lost the ball in the sun.Mark Bowman / MLB.com
Jason Heyward fueled the decisive 10th inning with a two-out single off former Braves prospect J.J. Hoover. B.J. Upton followed with a single that deflected off Hoover's glove and died in the infield grass. This prompted the entry of left-handed reliever Manny Parra, who allowed Freeman to drill his game-winning single off the right-center-field wall.Along with notching their 12th win in their past 15 games, the Braves also recorded their second series sweep this season, both at home. Atlanta's starting pitchers -- David Hale and Teheran -- surrendered a total of five hits over the final two games of this weekend's three-game set.Teheran limited the Reds to three hits over eight scoreless innings and notched three of his five strikeouts with a runner on second base. The 23-year-old Braves starter has allowed just one run over his past 24 innings, and in the process, he whittled his ERA down to 1.47.Cueto surrendered three hits and notched 11 strikeouts over eight scoreless innings. His 114-pitch effort extended the mastery he had produced while notching complete-game victories in his two previous starts. The Reds right-hander has allowed one run over his past 30 innings.Teheran and Cueto both cruised through the first four innings in relatively easy fashion, and then each pitcher notched a big strikeout to end the fifth-inning threats that they encountered. Ryan Ludwick opened the top of the fifth with a double down the left-field line and then advanced to third base on Brayan Pena's flyout to right field. Teheran responded by ending the threat with consecutive strikeouts against Zack Cozart and Cueto.After surrendering Justin Upton's two-out single in the first inning, Cueto retired each of the next 11 batters he faced. His dominant run ended when Andrelton Simmons bounced a double over the right-center-field wall in the bottom of the fifth. Gerald Laird followed with a four-pitch walk, and Teheran then executed a sacrifice-bunt attempt. But Heyward stranded Simmons and Laird on an inning-ending strikeout.The Braves threatened again in the sixth, when B.J. Upton doubled with two outs and Chris Johnson followed with a walk. But Cueto escaped unscathed when he struck out Dan Uggla for the third time in the game. This was the third three-strikeout game during this homestand for Uggla, who has been set down on strikes in 10 of his past 17 at-bats.Teheran distanced himself from the fifth-inning threat in a much more comfortable manner. He benefited from two defensive gems provided by Freeman and Uggla in the sixth inning, and he ended up retiring 11 of the final 12 batters he faced. His only blemish during this span came when he issued a one-out, eighth-inning walk to Cozart, who had struck out in his two previous at-bats.Freeman's diving stab of Billy Hamilton's sharp grounder to begin the sixth robbed Hamilton of a potential triple. Before Ludwick's fifth-inning leadoff double, the only hits the Reds had recorded were Hamilton's third-inning bunt single and Pena's second-inning double, which bounced out of B.J. Upton's glove after the Braves center fielder seemingly lost the ball in the sun.Mark Bowman / MLB.com
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