Sidearmer Gus Schlosser rejoined the Braves in Philadelphia Friday night where he’ll be available as an extra pitcher during Saturday’s doubleheader.
Schlosser was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett to be activated as the 26th man on Saturday. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said he would be available to pitch out of the bullpen either the first or the second game, depending on what the Braves needs are. Ervin Santana is scheduled to start Game 1 of a split doubleheader that includes a makeup game for an April 15 rainout in Philadelphia in Game 2.
David Hale is set to start Game 2, but he has pitched exclusively as the long man out of the Braves bullpen for the past two months. Gonzalez said he will likely go no more than 65 or 70 pitches in Game 2.
“I think in a perfect world (five innings) is about as far as we’re going to push him,” Gonzalez said.
Schlosser impressed the Braves coaching staff throughout spring training and made his first major league roster coming out of camp. He went 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA in nine relief appearances in April.
He had stretched back out in a starting role in Gwinnett, going 4-3 with a 4.39 ERA in 10 games. He went seven innings allowing one run in his most recent start Monday with Gwinnett. With his next start falling on Saturday, he had hoped he might get the call-up for the doubleheader.
“I was hoping for it because my start day fell on the doubleheader day,” Schlosser said. “It’s still nice to hear it though.”
Schlosser said he has been working on honing his change-up, a pitch that will help him against left-handers at the major league level.
“I think I figured some things out with it,” Schlosser said. “It’s been a little better lately. I’ve just got to keep going with it. I was trying to throw it a little too hard and it didn’t have as much depth to it. Instead of trying to make it do stuff, I just kind of let it happen naturally.”
