The day after Julio Teheran was pulled before the fourth inning of his Friday start for what was termed upper trapezius tightness near his right shoulder, the Braves were cautiously optimistic he would be ready to make his next scheduled start.
“He’s going to play a little catch today,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said Saturday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. “He’ll need to throw a little bullpen tomorrow to rule out (any problem), but they (physical therapists) did a lot of work on him. I think he said it felt good.
“We’ll know more tomorrow (Sunday) about that.”
For now, Snitker plans to have Teheran start Wednesday at New York against the Mets, after Sean Newcomb starts the series opener Tuesday.
The Braves are off Monday, which will permit Snitker to skip the fifth spot in the rotation this time through and keep the current four members of the rotation on regular rest if they start Tuesday through Friday.
In that scenario the next time the Braves need a fifth starter would be Saturday against the Giants, by which point Snitker thinks Anibal Sanchez might be ready to come off the disabled list without a minor league rehab assignment.
“And if something happens and Julio can’t (start Wednesday) then we’ll cross that road when we get there,” Snitker said.
Teheran was staked to a 3-0 lead in the first inning Friday against the Phillies, then gave up the entire lead before recording an out when he walked the first two batters and gave up a three-run homer by Odubel Herrera, who also homered off reliever Max Fried in the 7-3 Phillies win.
Teheran retired the last eight batters he faced, but his shoulder never loosened and he never got his fastball higher than 87.5 mph, several ticks below his usual velocity. Snitker decided after three innings to replace him.
“I thought that it was going to go away when I got warm and got in the game. But it stayed the same,” Teheran said. “Obviously the miles (per hour) that I was throwing wasn’t good – 85 miles per hour, 87 – but I was just out there trying to do my job and compete….
“I thought I could make it at least for the fifth inning, but like I said, (Snitker) was the one who decided to take me out. I respect that. He knew I wasn’t 100 percent, and he preferred to take me out today and don’t risk the season because it (could get) worse.”
