The reliever struck out Teoscar Hernández looking on four pitches, struck out Alejandro Kirk swinging on three pitches and got Santiago Espinal to pop out to first baseman Andrew Vaughn on the first pitch.
“That’s the way baseball goes. You’ve got to shut down those innings, and that’s the key to winning games, honestly,” Tepera said last week. “A lot of times, it does fall back on your bullpen to do that.
“Obviously really happy with that outing. I threw eight pitches, two strikeouts. I had great command of the slider that day. It ended up working out.