Chris Martin exited abruptly from last night’s game before even throwing a pitch in the eighth inning. The Braves set-up man felt a problem with his oblique during warm-ups, and the injury is so bad, he will not be available for the remainder of the NLDS. By rule, that will also keep him out of the NLCS if the Braves were to advance.
With only eleven pitchers on the roster, Atlanta has to bring in another arm to replace Martin. And the Braves announced this morning; it will be Julio Teheran that gets the nod.
Brian Snitker called leaving Teheran off the initial NLDS roster one of the toughest decisions of his career. Now, perhaps things have been made right. The Braves’ longest-tenured pitcher will be kept on standby as the potential Game 4 starter, and the team will not hesitate to throw Max Fried out there more often in relief. However, Keuchel didn’t throw too many pitches last night. If there is a Game 4, it’s difficult to imagine the Braves going to anyone besides him, so we could see Teheran out of the bullpen as well if Foltynewicz or Soroka are unable to go deep into their respective games.