Braves rough up Cueto, Cozart to earn series split
ATLANTA — There are days when Johnny Cueto looks unhittable and unbeatable. And then there was Sunday.
The Reds' ace looked like anything but on Sunday, as the Braves didn't seem fooled by anything he threw to the plate, rolling to a 5-0 victory over the Reds to salvage a tie in the series at Turner Field.
Cueto allowed five runs on nine hits over six innings, walking one and striking out just two batters.
"Sometimes when you talk about a pitcher's stuff, stuff only really correlates when it's well-commanded and located," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "Today I thought he had good stuff, but without the command that really made it the typical Johnny Cueto-type of stuff. They took advantage of it, to their credit."
Box score:Braves 5, Reds 0
Even if Cueto had been anything short of perfect, he didn't get any help, as the Reds' bats went silent against Julio Teheran. The Braves' Opening Day starter had given up 16 total runs in his previous three starts (12 earned), but mowed through the Reds' lineup with ease.
Teheran allowed three hits over six innings and struck out six Reds batters, including five in a row during the fourth and fifth innings.
Andrelton Simmons and Freddie Freeman hit back-to-back doubles to put the Braves up 1-0 with one out in the first before Kelly Johnson launched a no-doubt home run to center to give the Braves a 3-0 lead in the first.
Former Red Jonny Gomes gave Atlanta a 4-0 lead with a solo homer off of his ex-teammate in the third.
"It was a bad outing, just pitches stayed up and they hit me well, I can't think I'm going to be perfect the whole time," Cueto said according to translator Tomas Vera. "I just had a bad outing, I don't want to think about anything else, it's just the way it is. You know one day it's going to happen and it happened."
But as bad as it seemed for Cueto, it could have been worse. He gave up a single and a walk to start the second inning before getting the first out on Julio Teheran's sacrifice bunt. The next batter, leadoff man Nick Markakis, hit a bouncer to second, where Brandon Phillips looked the runners back at third and second, but didn't throw to first until it was too late, loading the bases.
Cueto got Simmons to pop up to Votto at first, and then Freeman hit a long fly ball to the warning track in center field, but Brennan Boesch was able to catch it to leave the bases loaded.
The Braves added a fifth run in the sixth inning when second baseman Jace Peterson led off the inning with a single. After Cueto was called for a balk to move Peterson to second, Cameron Maybin singled to score him easily from second.
The Reds lost shortstop Zack Cozart in the fourth when he suffered a bruised right index finger attempting to field a grounder by Teheran in the fourth inning. Cozart, who had played every inning of the season up to that point, was replaced by Kristopher Negron.
The Reds managed just four hits — one an infield single by Cueto — and no extra-base hits.
"It's just a bad outing, there's nothing you can do," Cueto said about himself, but he could have been talking about his entire team. "You've just got to keep your head up and get ready for the next one."