The Braves wanted to wait to see how Paul Maholm fared in a minor league rehabilitation start Saturday in Rome before announcing their plans for his return, but after the veteran showed his left wrist is healthy, the Braves revealed plans to start Maholm on Thursday in St. Louis.
He’ll come off the disabled list to open the Braves’ four-game series against the Cardinals.
“I threw 90 pitches Saturday, and everything feels good,” said Maholm, who returns for the first time since leaving a July 20 start against the White Sox, when he allowed seven runs in three innings. “Hopefully use this month to reset and get back like I was pitching earlier in the year and not like I was my last three starts.”
Thursday originally was Mike Minor’s day to start, but the Braves will skip Minor to give him extra rest for the stretch run. They have Minor penciled in to start again Tuesday when the Braves open a nine-game homestand against the Indians.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said this had nothing to do with Minor’s last outing, when he pitched a career-low 1 2/3 innings against the Nationals, and Minor said he feels fine physically. This is just a chance for the Braves to use Maholm’s return to rest some of their younger starters, such as Minor and Teheran.
The Braves won’t go to a six-man rotation the next time through, Gonzalez said. They’ll likely skip another starter, perhaps Teheran.
“We’re trying to use Pauly to get some of the guys a little breather,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve probably got the youngest rotation in the major leagues, well behind the Marlins, probably. We’ve got guys who are getting to some of the innings (totals) they’ve never reached before.”
Minor has thrown at most about 180 innings, which he did in each of the past two seasons. Even skipping this turn, he’s on pace for about 200 innings. Teheran, whose career-high is 164 innings, has thrown 149 innings. He’s on target for around 200 innings, if he doesn’t skip a start.
“We were never concerned about his innings,” Gonzalez said of Teheran. “But now we have that luxury that we could give him a little breather, too.”
The Braves will pitch Alex Wood on Wednesday against the Mets, Maholm on Thursday in St. Louis, followed by Kris Medlen, Teheran and Brandon Beachy. After an off day Monday, Minor will pitch Tuesday against Cleveland, followed by Medlen.
For his part, Minor said he understands.
“They want everybody to feel fresh going into the end of the season,” Minor said.
Minor said he initially thought he would use the time off to throw several bullpen sessions, but the Braves want him only to play catch every day and then throw his usual prestart bullpen session over the weekend.
Minor said he has watched video of his start Saturday against Washington and thinks he has addressed a mechanical flaw he saw, but that he felt fine. He walked four batters in the career-low 1 2/3 innings, giving up four runs.
“There was nothing wrong with me last start; it was just a bad start,” Minor said. “I was missing spots, and my arm was lagging, body was kind of going everywhere.”
The Braves haven’t announced the corresponding roster move they’ll make when they activate Maholm on Thursday. They could choose to go with a position player rather than a bullpen arm and then recall that player when rosters expand Sept. 1.
J. Upton scratched: The Braves scratched Justin Upton from Tuesday's lineup against the Mets with an upper back strain. It was apparently a lingering issue for Upton, who was in the original lineup, but was not able to get loose and did not take batting practice Tuesday afternoon. Evan Gattis replaced him in left field, and Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez moved Andrelton Simmons up to bat second.
Injury updates: Dan Uggla took batting practice Tuesday in New York for the first time since undergoing laser eye surgery Friday. He and Reed Johnson hit early on the field before both teams took batting practice. "I felt good," Uggla said. "I didn't really have a whole lot of difference." Uggla said he noticed the biggest difference the day after surgery, when a vision test revealed he was back to 20/15.
The Braves probably won’t take batting practice Wednesday because of an early game in New York, so he’ll likely hit again in St. Louis. Gonzalez said Uggla likely will return to Atlanta to be cleared by his eye doctors before beginning a minor league rehabilitation assignment. He’s eligible to come off the disabled list Aug. 28, when the Braves play the Indians.
Johnson, meanwhile, is still having problems running because of his Achilles tendinitis. He tried to do some light jogging last week and still had problems, so he’s continuing to take batting practice and hoping he sees improvement before long. The Braves are still hopeful he can return before the season is out.
“It’s not ready yet,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a little bit, I think.”
