Braves’ Maholm sharp in rehab start; now what?

Nearly one month after he’d last pitched in a game, Braves veteran Paul Maholm got encouraging results in 5-2/3 innings of work in an injury-rehab start Saturday for Class-A Rome.

The left-hander allowed one run, four hits and no walks with six strikeouts in a 6-2 win against Charleston, with nine ground ball outs and two fly outs.

“Everything felt good,” said Maholm, on the disabled list recovering from a sprained and bruised left wrist. “I got plenty of ground balls. It’s a little different throwing to A-ball guys, but it was good just to get on the mound and be out there in competition.”

The Braves haven’t said when they intend to activate him or how they plan to work him back into a pitching staff that currently has five starters all pitching well. Maholm went 9-9 with a 4.41 ERA in 20 starts before injuring his wrist while batting in a game at Miami.

He said he felt ready to return after one rehab game.

“I’m going to talk to (team officials),” Maholm said Sunday morning. “Like I said before, I’m not trying to build up to throw 95 (mph) or anything. Just kind of get back into game action. I’m going to talk to them and see what they want me to do, and what role they want me to come back in.”

Although manager Fredi Gonzalez seems reluctant to utilize a six-man rotation, last week he mentioned the possibility of plugging Maholm into the rotation and giving another starter extra rest by bumping him back a few days. He didn’t say if he had anyone in particular in mind.