Teheran aims to pitch Braves past Cubs

(SportsNetwork.com) - All-Star Julio Teheran tries to bounce back from one of his worst outings of the season when the Atlanta Braves close a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Teheran surrendered a career-high 11 hits along with five runs over just 3 1/3 innings in an 8-3 loss to the New York Mets at Citi Field Tuesday. The right- hander had won his previous two starts, giving up just one earned run in each of those appearances.

Teheran, who is 1-3 over his last four road starts, has pitched in three lifetime games against the Cubs and is 1-0 with a 3.32 ERA. That includes a sparkling start by Teheran on May 9 at Turner Field when he fired eight innings and gave up only one hit, a leadoff homer to Mike Olt in the third. He struck out nine and walked two, but didn't register the win because Craig Kimbrel blew his second save of the season in the ninth. The Braves won that game, 3-2 in 10 innings.

The Braves head into the final day prior to the All-Star break locked in a tie with Washington atop the NL East.

Yesterday, Chris Johnson hit a pair of two-run homers and the Braves used a six-run fourth inning to take an 11-6 victory. Justin Upton finished with two hits and four RBI and Andrelton Simmons went 3-for-5 with two runs scored for Atlanta, which entered the game with losses in five of its last six games.

Starter Mike Minor (3-5) homered and earned the win despite giving up six runs on 11 hits over six innings.

"He just battled every inning. Nothing came easy today," said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez of Minor. "I'm glad that we were able to get our bats going to get him the win."

Chris Coghlan drove in three runs on two doubles and Justin Ruggiano went 3- for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI for the Cubs, who saw their two-game winning streak come to an end.

Edwin Jackson (5-10) was pounded for nine runs on seven hits and four walks in just 3 2/3 frames.

"It was an embarrassing and horrendous game," said Jackson. "It is one of those games to put way back in the back of your memory."

Travis Wood toes the rubber today for the Cubs. The left-hander is 0-2 over his last four starts and hasn't won since June 15 at Philadelphia. Wood is coming off a loss at Cincinnati on Tuesday in the day portion of a doubleheader when he yielded eight hits and four runs -- three earned -- in 5 1/3 innings.

Wood has faced the Cubs once in his career. That came Sept. 21, 2013 at Wrigley Field when he gave up one run in seven innings in a no-decision.

The Braves have won 10 of the last 12 meetings against the Cubs.