The Braves activated Kevin Gausman from the injured list Friday. The right-hander started the series opener against the Marlins.

Gausman is a crucial piece of the team’s rotation puzzle. He produced a 2.87 ERA across 10 starts last season following a trade from the Orioles. He’d been recovering from a sore shoulder and missed only one start.

The Braves optioned reliever Shane Carle to make room on the active roster. Carle made three appearances, allowing five runs, striking out two and walking five in 3-2/3 innings.

Manager Brian Snitker was encouraged by Carle’s final outing Thursday, in which he pitched two scoreless innings in a win over the Cubs.

“He was really good last night,” Snitker said. “We’re going to need him, too. I want him to continue to work on what he had going on because I liked what I saw last night out of him. He’ll be down 10 days, and at the end of that 10 days, if we need him we’ll bring him back.”