completely shut down the Denver offense in the sec

ATLANTA -- The Braves big bear is healthy. That was bad news for Colorados Franklin Morales. After sitting out most of the week with an illness, Evan Gattis homered twice to support Julio Teherans six scoreless innings and Atlanta beat the Rockies 7-0 on Sunday. Gattis was given the nickname "El Oso Blanco" -- Spanish for "The White Bear" -- as a rookie in 2013, when he hit 21 homers. He is on pace for a bigger year as he has replaced Brian McCann as the teams primary catcher. Gattis (6 foot 4, 260 pounds) drove in three runs with the two homers, giving him 10. "Hes a big, strong boy," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. Justin Upton and Chris Johnson added two-run homers for the NL East-leading Braves, who have won six of eight. Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki left the game in the eighth inning. He appeared to limp slightly while walking slowly off the field, accompanied by a trainer. He said he avoided an injury when he hit his left foot on his backswing. "I think Im all right," Tulowitzki said. Gattis missed four games with viral symptoms. He returned with no hits and a walk in Saturdays 3-1 loss to the Rockies before hitting a homer in the second and a two-run shot in the fourth off Franklin Morales (3-4) on Sunday. "Ive got my strength back -- or lucky," Gattis said. Teheran (4-3) began the day fourth in the NL in ERA. He lowered his average from 1.92 to 1.77 with six scoreless innings. He had seven strikeouts while allowing only four hits. It was the second straight dominant win for Teheran, who was coming off his second shutout of the season, a 5-0 win over Milwaukee on Tuesday. After throwing a career-high 128 pitches against the Brewers, Gonzalez limited the right-hander to 93 pitches on Sunday. "That worked out great," Gonzalez said. "We want these guys for 35 starts, and he understood right away. Weve got to keep an eye on these guys. We want them for the long haul." Anthony Vavaro pitched two perfect innings and Luis Avilan recorded the final three outs to complete the combined four-hitter. Morales lasted only 4 2-3 innings, giving up five runs and three walks and five hits, including three homers. Johnson added to the lead with his two-run homer off Nick Masset in the eighth. "This Atlanta club hits the ball in the seats," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "Thats what they do. "A couple of balls got elevated and they hit them out." Gattis hit his first homer off Morales with one out in the second, a towering shot that sent centre fielder Charlie Blackmon crashing into the wall near the 400-foot mark. Upton walked with one out in the fourth before Gattis lined his second homer of the day about 12 rows deep into the left-field seats. Left fielder Carlos Gonzalez took one step to his right before standing and watching the homer quickly reach the seats. "I tried to use both sides of the plate, but sometimes I missed my spots and thats why I got hit," Morales said. Teheran didnt look sharp early. Blackmon and Michael Cuddyer had back-to-back singles to open the game before Teheran recovered with three straight outs. In the second, a single by Charlie Culberson and fielding error by second baseman Tyler Pastornicky on D.J. LeMahieus grounder put runners on first and second with one out. Following a sacrifice by Morales, Teheran escaped the inning when shortstop Andrelton Simmons charged a grounder by Blackmon, who was out on a close play at first. NOTES: The three homers allowed by Morales set a season high. ... Josh Rutledge replaced Tulowitzki at shortstop. ... ... Gonzalez said Pastornicky and Ramiro Pena are not in a strict platoon at second base. Gonzalez said Dan Uggla would start "whenever we feel we can get a good matchup." ... The Braves open a two-game series against the Red Sox on Monday when RHP Ervin Santana faces Boston RHP Clay Buchholz. ... The Rockies move to Philadelphia, where RHP Jhoulys Chacin will face RHP Kyle Kendrick on Monday. Kyle Alexander Heat Jersey . -- The Orlando Magic finally are showing the patience in critical moments that coach Jacque Vaughn has been waiting for all season. Jeremiah Martin Jersey . I suppose Sternberg has earned the right to speak out since his Rays, despite one of the lowest payrolls in the Majors at $58 million, are entering the final weekend of the regular season holding down the first Wild Card spot in the American League, one game ahead of Cleveland and two up on Texas. https://www.heatlockerroom.com/Kelly-Olynyk-City-Edition-Jersey/ . "You hate when they score," he said with some distaste at the thought. "You take pride in it. Edrice Adebayo Heat Jersey . - The Clippers have signed guard Dahntay Jones to a second 10-day contract. Bam Adebayo Heat Jersey . Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley told local media in comments published Wednesday that John Tomic would not be allowed into Melbourne Park in any official capacity or as a spectator.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Eastern Conference leading Toronto Raptors will try to get back into the win column Monday night when they welcome the Denver Nuggets to Air Canada Centre. The Raptors returned home from a 2-1 western road trip Friday night, but fell to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, 105-91. Amir Johnson had 27 points for the Raptors and Kyle Lowry scored 22 with nine assists. James Johnson managed 11 off the bench and those were the only three Toronto players in double figures. James and Kyrie Irving combined to score 17 in the third quarter and the Cavs led by as many as 14. They never let the Raptors get closer than six in the fourth. They were hitting on all cylinders, and they were executing as well as you could ask for, said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. I would say that I know this team tonight wasnt us. Sometimes in the NBA schedule (with) the first game back from a West Coast trip, the worst team you want to see is a team as talented as Cleveland. But again, hats off to them; they spanked us. The Raptors will get their chance for revenge on the Cavaliers when the two teams meet at Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday. The Nuggets lost their third in a row on Sunday afternoon, a 96-84 setback in Atlanta to the Hawks. Wilsonn Chandler led the Nuggets with 29 points and 10 rebounds.dddddddddddd Timofey Mozgov chipped in 14 points with 11 rebounds, and Alonzo Gee added 14 points on 7- of-9 shooting off the bench. Atlanta completely shut down the Denver offense in the second quarter to jump out to a 57-36 halftime lead. The Nuggets shot 0-for-8 from beyond the arc, and they shot just 28.6 percent from the field in the quarter. However, the script flipped in the third quarter as the Nuggets were able to get back in the game. While they made just 1-of-8 3-point shots in the quarter, they were 12-of-16 from inside the arc. In the final 12 minutes, Denver cut the Atlanta lead to single digits four separate times and got it down to as little as seven with 3:35 remaining. On the next two possessions, Kyle Korver nailed a 3-pointer and Jeff Teague hit a layup to rebuild the Hawks lead to 92-80. Atlanta cruised from there. We played better defensively in the second half, said Nuggets coach Brian Shaw. The common denominator in terms of how that turned around is Alonzo Gee. We ended up getting 11 turnovers on them in the second half. The two teams have split the last six meetings, but the Nuggets have won five of their last six appearances north of the border. ' ' '