PHILADELPHIA — Braves right-handed starter Reynaldo López will return to the active roster this week, making for one crowded starting rotation.
López went on the 15-day injured list Aug. 2 because of left knee inflammation. He began a rehab assignment Aug. 23 and has made three starts for Triple-A Gwinnett. On Thursday he threw five scoreless innings, gave up two hits, walked two batters and struck out six while throwing 93 pitches (53 strikes).
The addition of López, scheduled to start Wednesday at Truist Park against the AL East-leading Rays, means the Braves will have to make a roster move that day, and put one of their other six starters into a relief role. Braves manager Walt Weiss said Monday that Bryce Elder will be available out of the bullpen temporarily.
“He’s still dealing with the (right) knee,” Weiss said of Elder. “With all the starters that we have, we’re trying to give him a bit of an extended break. Since he’s not making a start the next two series, he can help us out of the pen.
“Just trying to get the best version of (Elder). There was a big part of the season where he was one of our best starters. We want to get him back to that. Knee’s been an issue so trying to see if we can resolve that.”
Elder has not pitched since Aug. 31, and the next time the Braves could use him to start would be a three-game series against the Cubs starting Sept. 14. AJ Smith-Shawver is scheduled to pitch Tuesday, Martín Pérez is the scheduled starter for Thursday and Chris Sale will open next weekend’s series against the Phillies on Friday.
That would slot Grant Holmes into Saturday and Smith-Shawver into Sunday.
“Hopefully we can just give (Elder) a bit of an extended break. That’s helped before to some degree,” Weiss said. “He’s day-to-day, just like all of us.”
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