The plan is for Braves right-hander Williams Perez to make his next scheduled start after he struggled in his return from the disabled list.
Perez gave up six runs over 2 1/3 innings against the Nationals Tuesday while throwing 73 pitches. He’d been on the DL since June 7 because of a strained rotator cuff and pitched 11 total innings in the minors before rejoining the Braves.
“He felt good when the whole thing was over,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. “He obviously didn’t pitch well but he felt good. Hopefully it’s one of those things where he will work on some things on the side and be better the next time.”
The positive sign for Perez was that his velocity was normal in his return. According to Pitchf/x data, Perez averaged 91.2 mph on his sinker, faster than in 2015 (90.2) and equal to his average this season.
Snitker said Perez lacked command of his secondary pitches. Perez gave up five runs in the third inning, including a grand slam to Anthony Rendon, and the Braves went on to lose 9-7.
Perez, 25, has a 4.99 ERA in 33 career games (30 starts) with 98 strikeouts and 65 walks over 167 2/3 innings. He had three separate stints at Triple-A Gwinnett this season before his injury.
“You are not talking about a guy who had it figured out before he left,” Snitker said. “He’s a guy that’s still learning and still trying to figure out his way. It’s not like Julio (Teheran) when he came back (from injury). (Perez) hasn’t really done it that long to really have everything ingrained and have it where he wants it to be yet.”
