SAN DIEGO — For one game at least, the Atlanta Braves didn’t look like the worst team in the majors.
Ender Inciarte finished a home run shy of the cycle and scored twice, Julio Teheran backed himself with an RBI single and the Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 Wednesday to stop a six-game losing streak.
The Braves, who have the worst record in the majors at 17-42, denied the Padres what would have been their first series sweep this season.
Atlanta needed a boost after a ninth-inning collapse Tuesday night and the trade of utilityman Kelly Johnson to the New York Mets earlier in the day.
“To say he came up big would probably be an understatement for where we were bullpen-wise, position-player wise after the trade,” interim manager Brian Snitker said. “That couldn’t have come at a better time.”
“Today we really, really needed him,” Snitker said. “It was almost like, I remember back in the day, ‘Give me a couple of runs and I’ll take you for a ride’ type thing. It was important for us to get a win. It’s good to get a win on the road trip. Obviously we would have liked to have more, but this was really huge.”
Atlanta was swept at the Los Angeles Dodgers before losing the first two against the Padres.
Teheran (2-6) allowed two runs and five hits in eight innings, struck out eight and walked one. Arodys Vizcaino, who took the loss Tuesday night, pitched the ninth for his seventh save in nine chances.
“The goal was to go as deep as I can and I’m glad I was able to go eight,” Teheran said.
Padres manager Andy Green was impressed with Teheran.
“He’s been successful all year long. I know his record doesn’t indicate that but he’s one of the better pitchers in the league,” Green said.
Wil Myers homered twice for the Padres, last in the NL West at 25-36.
Batting leadoff, Inciarte singled and scored in the first, doubled in the second, struck out in the fourth and tripled and scored in the sixth.
Padres left fielder Melvin Upton Jr. made a leaping catch to rob Freddie Freeman of a home run leading off the fifth. On Thursday night, Freeman tripled off the top of the left-field wall but the Braves thought the ball went off a fan’s glove and should have been ruled a home run. They appealed, but the call stood.
Atlanta took a 2-0 lead in the first against lefty Drew Pomeranz (5-6), who has developed into the Padres’ best pitcher. Inciarte and Chase d’Armaud singled and Freeman hit a sacrifice fly. Nick Markakis hit a RBI single.
The Braves made it 3-0 in the fourth when Teheran helped his cause with an RBI single. It brought in Daniel Castro, who singled and advanced on a wild pitch.
Both of Myers’ home runs were off Teheran. He homered an estimated 427 feet off the scoreboard on the facade of the second deck in left field leading off the fourth. Myers’ second homer, estimated at 402 feet, hit off the second balcony on the Western Metal Supply Co. Building in the left field corner. They were his 11th and 12th.
“I’m seeing the ball well right now,” Myers said. “A lot of it has to do with what I’m working on with my load, just getting my foot in the air early. Right now I just want to keep riding that out as long as I can.”
Pomeranz allowed three runs and nine hits in five innings, struck out six and walked one.
UP NEXT
Braves: After a day off Thursday, RHP Bud Norris (1-7, 5.28) is scheduled to start the opener of a home series against the Chicago Cubs, who will counter with RHP Jason Hammel (7-1, 2.14)
Padres: After a day off, the Padres open a series at Colorado, with RHP Andrew Cashner (3-5, 4.78) scheduled to start against Jon Gray (4-2, 5.33), who beat the Padres 10-3 in San Diego on Sunday.