Atlanta Braves starter Julio Teheran threw only 91 pitches in Wednesday's night win over the Chicago Cubs before beings pulled.
Bringer of glove -- pic.twitter.com/vzhmgudFQa
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 3, 2019
Teheran allowed one run, six hits and three walks with seven strike-outs in his five-innings of work. But why was he pulled after only five-innings with a bullpen that's shown it can be quite shaky?
Former Braves outfielder Brian Jordan wanted to see Teheran go six-innings but expects guys to be on a pitch count, at least early in the season.
"Pitching coaches are not going to let these guys stretch out," Jordan said. "They don't want these guys to go out here and over-extend themselves too early. They need them down the stretch come September so they're going to be very careful."
Max Fried will make his 2019 season debut tonight when he takes the mound against the Cubs at Suntrust Park.
"I don't expect him to go more than 90 pitches tonight," Jordan said. "Hopefully he'll be consistant and find that strike zone early in the game in 90 pitches. Hopefully he can get six-innings."
Jordan said the pitch count is also because of the evaluation process. General manager Alex Anthopoulos is continuing to evaluate these young pitchers to see which ones are going to give them the best shot at winning night in and night out.
"Max Fried, tonight, it's an audition for him," Jordan said. " Hopefully he'll go out there and continue to dominate like he's done in Spring Training. He looked really good in Spring Training. There's high expectations on Max Fried to go out there tonight and dominate.
