Braves make second trade, acquire Giants starting pitcher

“I know on the surface you look at the ERA and say, ‘Well …’ But, obviously, we’re trying to dig a little further into some of those things. We think what he’s done of late, and we think there’s still some room for improvement with some other tweaks, and he’s been successful in the past as well, and he’s still a young man.”

Anthopoulos said Mahle, who holds left-handed hitters to a .227 average for his career, will be slotted into the Braves’ rotation immediately and will make his team debut this weekend in New York City against the Yankees — although an exact day is undetermined. Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and Martín Pérez, respectively, are penciled in to pitch this week against the Marlins at Truist Park.

Mahle has pitched in 160 MLB games dating to 2017, when he debuted with the Reds. Over the past four-plus seasons he has pitched for the Twins, Rangers and Giants, respectively.

In 18 starts for the Giants this season, Mahle went 3-9 with a 5.13 ERA and 1.394 WHIP. However, since returning from the injured list (because of a hamstring injury) June 24, Mahle has a 3.79 ERA over seven starts and has fanned 32 batters in 38 innings.

Mahle, a California native, went 6-4 in 16 starts for the Rangers in 2025 and had a 2.18 ERA and 1.131 WHIP. He has averaged a little more than five innings pitched per appearance for his career.

The addition of Mahle, 31, adds depth to the Braves’ starting pitching with two months left in the regular season.

Reynaldo López was placed on the 15-day injured list Sunday. MRI results on his left knee showed no serious damage, but López still won’t be eligible to return to the fold until mid-August. Spencer Strider may not pitch again this season. Spencer Schwellenbach has yet to begin a rehab assignment. Hurston Waldrep is on the seven-day injured list at Triple-A Gwinnett. And AJ Smith-Shawver is at Triple-A Gwinnett after making just one start for the squad last month.

Anthopoulos said Saturday that López’s injury wouldn’t change the focus of the front office ahead of the deadline, and reiterated that stance Sunday.

“It’s a little tricky because you got a 26-man roster, and then in September you get to 28 (players). We’re talking through a lot right now,” Anthopoulos said. “Relievers, position players, starters — how many can we add? And we’re trying to map out guys coming back from injury, this, that, how many options guys have left? How do they all fit on the 26? Once we get to September, how do they fit on the 28? So we’re talking through those things.

“Things always seem to work themselves out,” Anthopoulos added. “You might see us, maybe overbook is the wrong word, you might say it looks like we have too many guys, and we’ll get to middle of August or third week of August, and we got to make a decision.

“But, I think for us, knowing that you’re going to continue to have guys getting hurt and go on the IL, every team will. We’re going to have it in August, we’ll have some in September, and hopefully, if we’re in the postseason, we’ll have some then. We can’t do anything after Aug. 3. We know that. If that means we have to just take some chances and maybe get a few more bodies that would make sense today, maybe we’ll be grateful for that if something was to happen down the road.”

Molina, 24, made three appearances for the Braves in 2026 and logged five innings. He has also pitched for the Rockies.

In 17 games for Triple-A Gwinnett, Molina was 3-2 with a 3.78 ERA.