Julio Teheran returns to form as the Braves blank the Reds

Today, we got to see the good version of Julio Teheran for the first time in what feels like a far too long amount of time. That, combined with Johnny Cueto having an off-day on the mound led to the Braves having a good day in all facets of the game. They beat the Reds 5-0 and picked up their first shutout since April 8th.

The first inning went about as well for the Braves as possible, as Julio Teheran got things started with a 1-2-3 inning. It wasn't a straight-forward inning since Teheran hit Zack Cozart (this was the start of a bad day for Cozart), but he got Joey Votto to hit into a inning-ending double play to end any threat that the Reds had going.

Meanwhile, everyone figured that this was going to be a good day for Johnny Cueto. Instead, the Braves jumped on him immediately. With one out, Andrelton Simmons picked up a double after hitting the first pitch he saw into right field. Freddie Freeman then added a double of his own, as he lined one to right field to bring in the Braves' first run of the game. That's when Kelly Johnson arrived on the scene and broke the inning open by smashing a no-doubter into right center for a two-run homer. The Braves were up 3-0, and the scoring ended there for the moment.

In the fourth inning, Zack Cozart's bad day got worse. After getting hit by a pitch in his first at-bat, he grounded out in his next at bat, and then was forced to leave the game in the fourth. The cause of Cozart's early exit was a ground ball that bounced up and probably left him with one less fingernail than he came to the ballpark with. That's one heck of a day.

Things picked back up in the fifth, which is when Jonny Gomes hit Johnny Cueto's first pitch of the at-bat into the beautifully-sunny Georgia sky for a solo home run, putting the Braves up by four. Three innings later, Cameron Maybin brought home Jace Peterson with a single, making it 5-0. That was the last run that Cueto gave up today, but it was the culmination of an unexpectedly rough day for the Reds' ace.

On the flip side of things, it was an extremely smooth day for Julio Teheran. He also went six innings, but he only gave up three hits, struck out six, and gave up no runs. That's about as nice of a day as you can have (other than going deeper into the game), and it was extremely pleasant to see this version of Teheran, since this is the type of pitcher that we've grown accustomed to seeing.

The win salvaged the series for the Braves, who were staring down yet another series loss. Instead, they got the split, and 12-13 looks a little better than 11-14, right? Plus, it was extremely pleasant to see the offense hit Cueto while Teheran was firing on all cylinders. That's a recipe for a good day at the ballpark, which is exactly what the Braves had today.

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=1056320&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2015-05-03&team=Braves&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2015-05-03&team=Braves&dh=0&season=2015">FanGraphs</a></span>