The stat line said veteran Ervin Santana had a rough go of it Friday night with Triple-A Gwinnett, but the report that Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez received said otherwise. Santana was charged with eight hits and six runs in 5-1/3 innings of his Friday start against Durham, and had four walks with three strikeouts.
“He pitched better than the numbers show,” Gonzalez said of Santana, who threw 50 strikes in 93 pitches. “The game reports said there were a couple of plays that could have been made that weren’t, but he was really good.”
The Braves tentatively plan to have Santana make his Atlanta debut with a start Wednesday against the Mets in the second home game at Turner Field. The former American League All-Star signed as a free agent on March 12, two days after the Braves lost starting pitchers Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy to elbow injuries on consecutive days.
“We’ve got our fingers crossed that we can plug him in (Wednesday),” said Gonzalez, who will probably wait until Santana throws his between-starts side session in the bullpen before making a firm decision. “We’ll ask him how he feels, whether he needs another (minor league start) or doesn’t need another. We’ll go from there.
“I’ll give you a better answer tomorrow, but we have really high hopes that we can pencil him in on (Wednesday).”
The Braves have gone with four starters so far, which they could do because of two off days in the first week. They could wait until as late as April 12 to use a fifth starter, but don’t plan to wait that long.
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