The Atlanta Braves are coming off a series win on the road against the Houston Astros, and tonight began a new four game series against the divsion rival Philadelphia Phillies, who wooped up on the Braves soundly the last time the two teams met.
As reported in the game, and also by Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Evan Gattis, catcher for the Atlanta Braves, had to leave the game early complaining of back spasms.
"Evan Gattis had to leave Friday’s game in Philadelphia after striking out in his first at-bat in the top of the first inning with a rhomboid muscle spasm, a muscle in upper back, near his right shoulder blade."
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Gerald Laird jumped into the catcher role to manage Julio Teheran in Evan’s place, something that could well have made Teheran happy based on Julio’s last outing, where he and Gattis had some communication issues and apparent differences of opinion on pitch selection.
Gattis exited the game in the top of the first inning after striking out, and appeared to me to be immediately uncomfortable. These days, it seems much more common to see oblique injuries with hard swinging batters, but the injury to Gattis, thankfully, seems at least to be less severe.
The Atlanta Braves are reportedly listing Gattis currently as day-to-day, with hopes that the spasm will be temporary, particularly in view of the scheduled day-night double-header on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
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If Evan Gattis remains on the bench, the Braves are able to go with Ryan Doumit on Saturday, and while Doumit has caught just two games this season so far, and that back in April, he’s certainly capable of catching, and has considerable pop in his bat when he’s on.
The downside to that scenario, as Carroll Rogers also points out, is that Evan Gattis has performed very well at Citizens Bank Park, having gone yard five times in the six games that Gattis has played in Philadelphia. Atlanta Braves fans won’t soon forget that a part of that was a huge, almost 490 foot mammo hit off the arrogant Cole Hamels in 2013.
As we hear of an injury update on Evan Gattis, we’ll certainly let you know, so check back often.
As I write this article, the Atlanta Braves have a 4-2 lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the bottom of the 5th. Let’s root our Braves on, and send good vibes and well-wishes toward Evan Gattis for a speedy recovery. Go Braves!