Reynaldo López will make a rehab start for Gwinnett Tuesday, the Stripers announced.
On Monday at Oracle Park, Braves manager Brian Snitker said López will throw around 75 pitches for the Stripers.
The Braves placed López on the 15-day injured list, backdated to Aug. 2, with right forearm inflammation. The starting pitcher can come off the injured list Saturday. Pitching Tuesday means he’d be lined up to start as soon as Sunday if the Braves wanted to bring him back for the series finale against the Angels.
He’d be lined up to start Sunday on regular rest if the Braves wanted to go that route.
On July 28 in New York against the Mets, López departed his start after three scoreless innings because of right forearm tightness. His MRI, done that night, came back clean — a huge relief for a Braves team that has suffered through horrible injury luck this season.
When manager Brian Snitker and president of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos addressed the media in the days after that MRI, they sounded somewhat encouraged that López would be fine. The team went a week without placing him on the injured list.
But during the Marlins series, Snitker said López hadn’t yet thrown a bullpen session. That seemed like a clear indicator that he wasn’t particularly close to starting a game, and that he would likely land on the injured list.
