The Braves are hoping that Eric O'Flaherty can avoid a trip to the disabled list with a few more days of rest for his ailing elbow.
"We feel if we can get [O'Flaherty] through these next couple games, he'll be fine," Gonzalez said. "Our training staff is telling us if we can get him through these next couple days, he'll be fine. You hate to DL him and then we go to New York, with all those left-handers and all those switch-hitters you want to hit right-handed, with one lefty. We'll bring in a fresh arm with a day off [Thursday] and alleviate the pressure on [O'Flaherty] and on us to DL him."
O'Flaherty said that the injury wasn't serious and the rest was precautionary but admitted that the elbow was stiff. Atlanta missed him on Tuesday as Jonny Venters allowed a game-tying grand slam to Alex Rodriguez in the eighth inning. Cory Gearrin relieved Venters and served up a two-run homer to Nick Swisher.
The Braves sent Gearrin down on Wednesday and called up Anthony Varvaro to add a fresh arm to the pen. O'Flaherty is expected to throw a bullpen session on Friday and reassess the situation.
For more on the Atlanta Braves check out Talking Chop. For more news and notes from Major League Baseball head over to Baseball Nation.