BOSTON — Catcher Evan Gattis was a late add to the lineup Wednesday night against the Red Sox after testing his right wrist in pregame hitting, but Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez opted to give shortstop Andrelton Simmons another day to rest his right ankle.
Simmons left Tuesday’s game after the seventh inning when his recently sore ankle became a little more than nagging. By Wednesday, the shortstop said the ankle had improved.
“Andrelton has gotten a lot better,” Gonzalez said. “He came in today begging to get in the lineup, which is always a good sign. But we’re going to give him another day, especially with it misty and rainy right now, I don’t want him to have a setback. But he’s a lot better.”
Gattis was scratched from the lineup Tuesday after feeling some unusual soreness in his wrist during batting practice.
“I looked down and it was kind of red, swelled up a little bit,” he said Wednesday. “I might have popped a blood vessel or something, I’m not really sure. We’ll see how it goes today.”
After taking some practice swings, hitting some balls off a tee and hitting a few more balls flipped to him by a coach without much if any discomfort, Gattis said the last test was taking batting practice in the indoor cage Wednesday on a chilly, damp afternoon at Fenway Park.
That went well and Gonzalez changed the lineup, adding Gattis in place of Gerald Laird. Gonzalez had discussed the situation with Laird earlier in the afternoon and let him know Gattis would play if the wrist held up during batting practice.
