After resting outfielder Guillermo Heredia in Friday night’s game, the Braves placed him on the 10-day injured list Saturday because of right hamstring inflammation.
The team recalled rookie center fielder Cristian Pache from the alternate training site to replace Heredia on the roster.
Before Friday, Heredia had started 11 consecutive games in center field and had been an early-season surprise with a .300 batting average (12-for-40), two home runs, an OPS of 1.004 and four multi-hit games.
“He’s a guy that hadn’t played that many games in a row, probably, in a long time,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said Saturday. “That maybe had something to do with (the injury). I’m hoping that he’s ready to go before the 10 days are up so he can continue to hit.”
The plan Friday was to rest Heredia for just a couple of days, but the hamstring didn’t improve as rapidly as hoped.
Pache, 22, opened the season as the Braves’ starting center fielder, but struggled at the plate before going on the 10-day injured list April 14 with a strained left groin. He had a .133 batting average (4-for-30) over 11 games, with 13 strikeouts and one walk.
When Pache came off the IL on April 24, the Braves optioned him to the alternate site at Gwinnett to work on his hitting.
“He got hurt, but he was probably on his way out anyway, even if he had stayed healthy, just to get him some regular at-bats and hopefully relax him and get him feeling good about his swing,” Snitker said.
Pache has been playing in intra-squad games the past week, “and the reports have been good,” Snitker said. “Hopefully that did him some good.”
Pache was in the starting lineup Saturday night for the game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla. Ronald Acuna, who played center field Friday, was back in right field.
Another center fielder, Ender Inciarte, has been on the Braves’ injured list since April 17 with a left hamstring strain. Snitker said Inciarte is “a ways” from being activated. “He hasn’t been cleared to play in any games yet.”
Braves notes
-- Max Fried, sidelined since April 13 with a hamstring injury, is expected to return to the Braves’ starting pitching rotation in the three-game series that opens Tuesday at Washington. As for which game Fried will start in the series, Snitker said: “We’ll probably have that by (Sunday).”
-- Entering Saturday’s game, Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies had an extra-base hit in four consecutive games, collecting four doubles and two home runs during that stretch. Seventy percent of his hits this season (14 of 20) have been for extra bases.
-- Ian Anderson is scheduled to start Sunday afternoon’s series finale against Toronto. He didn’t allow a run in either of his past two starts, pitching seven scoreless innings against the Cubs and 6-2/3 scoreless innings against the Yankees. Those performances dropped Anderson’s ERA to 2.48 through five starts.
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