Maholm heads to Atlanta for full exam on left wrist
Braves southpaw not ruled out of next start Thursday against Mets
CHICAGO -- The Braves are headed to New York for a four-game series against the Mets that starts Monday, but starter Paul Maholm went back to Atlanta on Sunday to get his sprained left wrist checked out.
Maholm will visit with Dr. Gary Lourie, the Braves' associate physician and hand specialist, after leaving his start on Saturday in the fourth inning because of the wrist -- which he first aggravated hitting against the Marlins in his final start before the All-Star break.
A White Sox physician took a look at it Saturday and X-rays came back negative, but Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said the team wants to have a full workup done to make sure it's nothing more serious than a sprain.
"X-rays were negative, but he's not going to pitch for the next four days -- why not send him down and have our guy, our hand specialist, look at him?" Gonzalez said before series finale against the White Sox on Sunday at U.S. Cellular Field. "He saw their doctor, but … I think all they did was an X-ray here, so he'll go home and get a study. We'll call it a study. That kind of covers everything -- MRI, X-ray, bone scan, bone graph, whatever."
Before leaving for Atlanta, Maholm was at the ballpark with his left wrist wrapped in ice. Gonzalez didn't rule him out of his next start, which is scheduled for Thursday at Citi Field against Zack Wheeler.
After getting through the first two innings unscathed, Maholm gave up five runs in the third and had two more tacked on in Chicago's four-run fourth -- after the Braves had built a 4-0 lead. Maholm said the wrist only bothered him during the fourth, when it flared up during his warmup throws.
"I didn't do a whole lot over the break and I aggravated it and it's just one of those things that, as a pitcher, if you have anything in your wrist or anything … you're not able to let it loose or let it go and make your pitches," he said after the game. "I tried to get through the warmups and get through the first few hitters and see if I could do it, and it was just something that obviously wasn't going away."
Maholm took the loss, his third in as many outings. He also saw his record drop to 4-7 in 13 road starts and his road ERA balloon to 6.03, as compared to 5-2 with 1.93 ERA in seven home starts.