PHILADELPHIA – Julio Teheran has been scratched from his Wednesday start due to an infection in his right thigh, but the Braves hope to have him back for a start this weekend against the White Sox in Chicago.
Tyrell Jenkins will move from the bullpen to start Wednesday’s series finale against the Phillies, the first start for the rookie right-hander after four relief appearances.
Teheran, named to the All-Star team Tuesday, has an infection in his thigh just above the knee, which Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said resulted from an ingrown hair.
When the condition worsened Sunday, the Braves decided to send him back to Atlanta to have it treated. He caught a flight home early Tuesday from Philadelphia, about four hours after arriving on the team charter flight from Fort Bragg, N.C., where the Braves played a game Sunday night against the Marlins.
“He had that infection of an ingrown hair,” Snitker said before batting practice Tuesday afternoon. “It got a little worse. Everything sounds good right now, though. They sent him back just because they wanted (a Braves doctor) to deal with it on a daily basis instead of having him on the road seeing different doctors and everything.
“Hopefully we’ll get him back this weekend. I think he’s had it for a while. All of a sudden it kind of got worse. Once they treated it – I think they lance those things – it was just more of a situation where I think they wanted our guys keeping (treating him to avoid) the risk of further infection.”
Snitker said the last report he got Tuesday was optimistic that Teheran would be able to start one of the final two games before the All-Star break Saturday or Sunday against the White Sox.
The Phillies won’t be sorry to miss him Wednesday: Teheran is 5-1 with a 1.20 ERA in his past eight starts against them, and 4-1 with a 1.82 ERA in five career starts at Citizens Bank Park.
Teheran had one of his worst starts Friday against the Marlins, allowing a season-high 11 hits and five runs in 6 2/3 innings. He had posted a 1.72 ERA and .169 opponents’ average in his previous 13 starts.
Snitker was asked if he thought Teheran’s thigh infection might’ve affected him Saturday.
“Yeah, maybe, I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think he would use that as an excuse, because I think maybe at that time it was something he knew about or felt but it wasn’t anything, I don’t think, to worry about right then. I saw him on Sunday (at Fort Bragg) at the event, at lunch, and he looked fine. Looked like he was doing OK, and then maybe even that evening it had gotten a little worse.”
