The Atlanta Braves bullpen played with fire in the late innings and ended up getting burned in the 10th when Marlins first baseman Garrett Jones hit a 2-run single up the middle against Shae Simmons with the bases loaded to give his team a 3-1 lead.

This was Shae Simmons second straight outing in which he came away with the loss. In both outings Simmons allowed a couple hits that led to a couple runs and an eventual loss. We have come accustom to Simmons coming in and putting out fires and living up to the nickname “Baby Kimbrel” that we forget this guy was pitching in Double-A Mississippi just a couple months ago. This is just a rough patch and I’m sure he will bounce back soon and remind everyone how talented he is once again.

The game came down to whose bullpen would blink first and for the first time in a while it was Atlanta’s. The Braves bullpen had a hard time throwing strikes which led to giving up four hits and four walks in only three innings. Even though Craig Kimbrel showed off his dominance by getting out of a bases loaded nobody out jam without surrendering a run, he was still off his game like the rest of his bullpen mates.

Lost in this battle of the bullpens were the solid performances by both of the starting pitchers. Julio Teheran three extra days rest went 7 innings allowing only one run on four hits, while walking one and striking out eleven. Teheran had excellent command of his fastball; he was able to throw it on both sides of the plate for swings and misses. The only mistake Teheran made was a first-pitch changeup to Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the fifth inning that hung over the middle of the plate, and he didn’t miss it. Up until that solo homerun Teheran hadn’t allowed a hit. The Saltalamacchia homerun tied the game at one after a Chris Johnson RBI groundout in the second inning.

Marlins starting pitcher Tom Koehler pitched 6 2/3 innings allowing one run on five hits, while walking two and striking out seven. It was a very solid performance for the young right hander, especially since in the seven previous games Koehler has pitched in against the Braves his team had gone 0-7.

There’s not much to say in regards to the offensive side considering neither team was hitting the ball with any regularity. The Braves lineup stranded nine base runners and went hitless with runners in scoring position going 0-8. The Marlins offense wasn’t much better as they went 1-10 with runners in scoring position, luckily for them that one hit came in the tenth inning with a Garrett Jones single up the middle to drive in the go-ahead runs.