The Braves haven’t announced a starting pitcher for Sunday’s game against the Phillies, but right-hander Casey Kelly could get the call-up from Triple-A Gwinnett to take recently demoted Aaron Blair’s turn in the rotation.
Kelly has posted a 3.00 ERA in seven games (five starts) for Gwinnett. He made one appearance for the Braves this season on April 22 and allowed three hits and a run over three innings against the Mets.
The Braves promoted right-hander reliever Joel De La Cruz from Triple-A Gwinnett on Friday for what could turn out to be a short stay. De La Cruz was called up for long relief duty Friday against the Phillies after John Gant was sent down following a 38-pitch appearance Thursday.
The Braves could use De La Cruz if needed and thus leave current long reliever Bud Norris as a possibility to start Sunday.
“(Norris’) bullpen (session) was great today, so we added De La Cruz to hopefully give us some length if we need it tonight,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said.
There is heavy rain in the Philadelphia forecast for Saturday. If the game is rained out, then Williams Perez most likely would have his scheduled Saturday start pushed back to Sunday.
