After watching ace Julio Teheran allow six runs on a career-high 13 hits during a 9-4 loss Tuesday against the Red Sox, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez sat down with pitching coach Roger McDowell to talk about the right-hander's struggles.
"We need to do something against the left-handed hitters," Gonzalez said, per MLB.com. "They're just wearing him out. I don't know if he's just leaving balls all over the plate, the execution. Roger and I have been here talking about that for a while. We got carried away. We need to do something to equalize [the splits] a little bit."
Left-handers on Tuesday went 6 for 15 with a walk against Teheran. This season, lefty hitters are batting .326 with a .546 slugging percentage and .945 OPS against Teheran.
"They still got to him last year a little bit, but it wasn't at the pace they're doing right now," Gonzalez said. "Whether it's pitch selection or command. Looking at the video through the course on the Jumbotron, it's balls right down the middle. It's balls down the middle of the plate that we need to locate."
Teheran has also had his issues on the road in 2015. He is 1-3 with a 7.17 ERA in eight road starts, as opposed to 3-0 with a 2.77 ERA in six home starts.
"We just got to figure out getting back the old Julio Teheran," Gonzalez said.