Atlanta Braves pitcher Bryce Elder will be sidelined for the next 3-4 weeks after undergoing surgery on his right knee to alleviate discomfort in the area.
Elder had been dealing with nagging issues in his knee since the All-Star break, but told the medical staff that it had reached a point where something had to be done if he hoped to pitch in the postseason. As a result, the right hander flew to Dallas to have his knee scoped.
“In the first half, he was one of the best pitchers on our staff,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “He tried to fight through it. He got to a point where we couldn’t really do it anymore.”
Across 26 starts this season, Elder sports an 8-8 record, 4.11 ERA and 121Ks across 149IP. He’s currently second on the Braves roster with 15 quality starts to his name, trailing only Chris Sale in that department.
With Elder sidelined for the next month, Weiss told reporters that Reynaldo Lopez would take his spot in the team’s rotation. Lopez has been limited to just 11 starts this season and has been on the injured list with left knee inflammation for the past month and a half. After making three rehab appearances with Triple-Gwinnett, he’s now expected to take the mound on Wednesday.
Atlanta currently sits atop the NL East division at 85-60 and have a 4 game cushion over second place Philadelphia. The club has scuffled a bit of late, going 5-5 in their last 10 games including a 7-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday. The club will resume their series against the Rays on Wednesday evening as the two sides are set for a 7:15pm ET showdown.
Photo: Reunion. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.