Atlanta Braves finally get 10th win

PITTSBURGH -- The way Julio Teheran had been pitching was one thing. His record was another.

Staked with some run support -- finally -- the Atlanta starter turned in another strong outing as the Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1 Wednesday.

"Finally, I got my win, but I was trying to do my job and I did it the whole game," said Teheran (1-4), who held the Pirates to five hits and struck out three in 7 2/3 scoreless innings.

He had stellar numbers coming into the game -- a 1.44 ERA and a .202 opponent batting average over his previous five starts -- but that came in games in which his teammates struggled at the plate.

"I was making pitches. I knew I was facing one of the good lineups of the league and was just trying to not make mistakes," Teheran said.

The Braves became the last team in the major leagues to reach the 10-win mark, giving interim manager Brian Snitker, who replaced the fired Fredi Gonzalez, his first win in two tries.

The game was a stark contrast to the first two games in the series, when the Pirates outscored Atlanta 20-14.

Teheran had a lot to do with the different result.

"He changed speeds so well," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "He hit the locations he wanted to all night long. For the last two nights we'd been swinging the bats pretty well. He kept the ball out of the middle. He kept it down. He just pitched a really, really good ballgame."

The Braves (10-29) scratched out a run in the third. David Castro led off with an infield single, moved to second on Teheran's bunt, advanced to third on Ender Inciarte's ground out and scored on Freddie Freeman's two-out single to center.

Tyler Flowers extended the lead to 2-0 with a first-pitch, one-out home run to straightaway center field in the sixth. Chase d'Arnaud drove in another run with a double in the ninth.

Pittsburgh, which had won three games in a row before Wednesday, managed only a double in the second by Gregory Polanco and four singles before Jung Ho Kang hit a home run to left in the ninth off of reliever Arodys Vizcaino to make it 3-1.

It was Kang's fifth homer in his 10 games back following reconstructive knee surgery last year.

"It feels good to hit home runs, but it feels better when we win," Kang said through a Korean interpreter.

Pirates starter Francisco Liriano (3-3) allowed two runs on seven hits in seven innings, or what Hurdle called "a good ballgame. I thought he pitched efficiently throughout the game. Just a couple hiccups that cost him."

Pittsburgh had won all of Lirano's previous 13 starts at PNC Park, dating to last June 15, but this night it was Liriano, rather than Teheran, who lacked run support.

"We played good baseball the last couple games," Liriano said. "We're not going to score that many runs every day."

NOTES: Atlanta called up RHP John Gant from Triple-A Gwinnett and optioned RHP Aaron Blair to Triple-A. Blair gave up 13 runs (12 earned) on 15 hits in five innings over his past two starts. ... Braves RHP Shae Simmons (elbow), making his second injury rehab appearance with Triple-A Gwinnett, started, struck out three and got out of a bases-loaded jam (single, two walks) in one inning. ... Pirates OF Starling Marte is expected to come off the paternity list and be available on Thursday. ... Pittsburgh's game on June 26 against Los Angeles will start at 8:08 p.m. It originally was scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ... Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle on his team's propensity for successful reclamation projects, such as OF Matt Joyce: "There are guys that go through hard times and play a certain way. There are guys who go through hard times and mope. We stay away from the mopers, the bottom-lippers."