Uggla's error too much for Teheran to overcome

ATLANTA -- As Julio Teheran struggled with his command during Friday night's 7-6, 10-inning win over the Nationals, he escaped a fourth-inning threat without much harm. But his attempt to produce another escape act the following inning proved unsuccessful when he was forced to overcome second baseman Dan Uggla's throwing error.

Uggla cleanly fielded Adam LaRoche's two-out grounder and then made a lackadaisical throw that first baseman Freddie Freeman was unable to dig out of the dirt. Ryan Zimmerman followed with a game-tying three-run home run.

"I just threw it in the [ground]," Uggla said. "I had a bad feeling for some reason as soon as it came off the bat. I know I had a [bad] play. It's not the first [bad] play that I've caused runs on. It was great to get the win. It [stinks] that Teheran didn't get the win."

When Teheran limited his damage to one run after allowing the Nationals to load the bases with one out in the fourth inning, he was extending a trend during which he has limited opponents to a .218 batting average with runners in scoring position since the start of last year.

But Uggla's inning-extending error proved detrimental to Teheran, who has posted a 2.84 ERA despite allowing opponents to reach base at a .346 clip through his first three starts.

"You give a team another out and you're going, '[Teheran] ain't going to get over that one today," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Most starts, he's going to cover it up because he's got good stuff going on. He'll get the out. You could tell that his stuff wasn't good or whatever. It wasn't his day. He was going to have a tough time covering that one up, you know what I mean? And sure enough, he hit a 3-2 pitch right down the middle. Zimmerman will make you pay for it."