ATLANTA (AP) — Right-hander Reynaldo López, who opened the season as Atlanta’s No. 2 starter, is moving to the bullpen as Braves manager Walt Weiss shuffles his rotation for a series against Detroit.
More changes could be coming, with right-hander Spencer Strider possibly making his season debut in this weekend’s series at Colorado after opening the season on the injured list because of a strained oblique.
Left-hander Martín Pérez (1-1, 2.70 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday night’s series opener against Detroit. Rookie JR Ritchie, who won in his major league debut on Thursday at Washington, is scheduled to start Wednesday. Right-hander Bryce Elder (3-1, 1.95) is set for Thursday’s start.
Weiss said he expects López (1-1, 3.74) to return to the rotation after he works out some mechanical flaws in his delivery. Weiss said López is a reliever “for now.”
“We see him as a starter,” the skipper said. “He’s working through some things, delivery-wise, that type of thing, and he’s getting right there. And when he’s right, he’s one of our best starters. He was our No. 2 coming out of camp, even with some of the issues at the end of spring training.
“So we see him as a starter long term, but right now, trying to iron some things out. He’s going to help us out of the ‘pen in the short term.”
Ritchie allowed only one run over seven innings in a 7-2 win over Washington. He was impressive in spring training and at Triple-A Gwinnett before his promotion. With Chris Sale (5-1, 2.31) locked in as the staff ace and Elder and Grant Holmes throwing well in the first month, there could be difficult rotation decisions ahead for Weiss.
Right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach, who was expected to be one of the team’s top starters, and Hurston Waldrep, who was a candidate for the rotation, could return in June following elbow surgeries.
Weiss said there could be more changes ahead for the rotation, starting with the weekend series at Colorado.
“We don’t know what (the rotation) will be there,” Weiss said. “So it is series to series with the rotation right now.”
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