Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez rested Freddie Freeman and a couple of other regulars Monday night, something he plans to do throughout the final homestand.
“We’ll give a guy one or two a day I’m not going to give four or five at the same time,” said Gonzalez, who gave starts to Paul Janish and Joey Terdoslavich. “Some of the guys are a little banged up and I think we’ll use this to get them recharged.”
The Braves will have three days off between the end of the regular season and the start of the division series on Oct. 3, so he doesn’t plan to give any of them extended rest, just a day here or there.
Freeman is expected to be back in the lineup on Tuesday. Gonzalez said he planned to play Jason Heyward the first two games of the Brewers series and then rest him on Wednesday. He’ll also work in days off for Andrelton Simmons and Chris Johnson.
Brian McCann was out of the lineup Monday because he was away from the team for the birth of his daughter Colbie. This is the second child for Ashley and Brian McCann, who have a 1-year-old son Colt. McCann will rejoin the Braves on Tuesday.
Closer Craig Kimbrel said those three days next week will be plenty of rest for him, and he wants to pitch in any save situations like normal.
“I’d rather go out there and pitch like we were still chasing the division,” said Kimbrel, who was sitting on 49 saves entering Monday. “I just don’t want to take a few days off, get out of the groove of things. If it’s a save situation where I would normally go in and pitch I want to go in and pitch.”
Gonzalez said they’ll just keep it within reason for Kimbrel – no four-out saves, tie games, etc.
