Two days after receiving two cortisone shots in his right knee, Chipper Jones felt good enough to return to the lineup Tuesday afternoon.
After playing 11 innings against the Astros, getting five at-bats and fielding five chances at third base, he thinks he might be good enough to avoid arthroscopic surgery.
“We have a stay of execution,” Jones said after the game.
Jones had planned to let Tuesday’s game dictate whether he would resort to arthroscopic surgery for a small meniscus tear in his right knee, which an MRI revealed Sunday. While he wasn’t happy with the way he hit Tuesday, he boarded the Braves’ charter for the West Coast trip thinking he can play through it.
“I can only go on how I feel today, and I feel a lot better than two days ago,” Jones said. “If things change over the next couple of days, then we’ll adjust, but hopefully they won’t.”
Jones wanted to test his knee at its most vulnerable position — batting right-handed — which he got to do Tuesday against Astros left-hander Wandy Rodriguez. He went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts against Rodriguez and 1-for-5 with an additional strikeout for the day, but he didn’t blame that on the knee.
Gearrin optioned to Gwinnett
Rather than parting ways with struggling veteran Scott Linebrink, the Braves decided to option rookie reliever Cory Gearrin back to Triple-A Gwinnett to make room for Julio Teheran on the roster for his spot start Wednesday.
The Braves made the move after Tuesday’s 3-1 win over the Astros, in which Gearrin collected his first major league win.
“It’s a shame,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He gets his first win in the major leagues, and we’ve got to make a player move to send him down.”
The sidearmer is 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 10 appearances since he was called up April 22, pitching in key situations in the absence of Peter Moylan (back surgery).
Linebrink is 0-1 with a 6.92 ERA in 18 games, including a 9.64 ERA with a loss and a blown save in his past six games.
But the Braves sent Gearrin to Gwinnett encouraged that he pitched well and should “be ready” for a call to come back.
“Whenever they need me I’ll be ready to go again,” said Gearrin, who worked out of a bases-loaded jam with a double play in the top of the 11th, setting up Brian McCann’s walk-off heroics. “I was excited to get my first big league win. If you are going to go down, I guess that’s about as good a way to go.”
Etc.
Moylan’s back surgery went as planned Tuesday in Los Angeles, the Braves announced. He’s expected to miss 12 weeks as he recovers from surgery for a herniated disc performed by renowned spine specialist Dr. Robert Watkins. ... Scott Proctor stranded two runners he inherited in the eighth inning Tuesday in his first appearance since he returned to the Braves’ bullpen Sunday. He came in with runners first and second, and after a sacrifice and intentional walk, got Carlos Lee to pop-up and struck out Brett Wallace. ... As the Braves head to Arizona for the start of a three-city trip, Brandon Beachy will travel to the Braves’ rehabilitation facility in Orlando to continue his treatment on his strained left oblique. He’ll work with physical therapist Troy Jones. ... Martin Prado was named National League player of the week for last week. He went 12-for-26 (.462) in six games, with multi-hit games in five of them. He hit three homers — including the game-tying grand slam in a win over Washington on Thursday — drove in eight runs and scored seven.
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