ATLANTA -- When rain forced the postponement of Wednesday night's game against the Marlins at SunTrust Park, Braves manager Brian Snitker found himself staring at the challenge of playing two doubleheaders within the next two weeks.
But with Tuesday's acquisition of Kevin Gausman from the Orioles, Snitker believes he now has enough starting pitching depth to get through those twin bills and primarily stick to the plan of providing at least one extra day of rest to his starters throughout the remainder of this busy month.
The Braves and Marlins will now play a day-night doubleheader on Aug. 13, with the first game scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET and the second for 7:35 p.m. Atlanta will also play a doubleheader this Tuesday at Nationals Park.
"[The postponement] is not a big deal," Snitker said. "You want to play just because I didn't want to really get the doubleheaders backed up. I wanted Anibal [Sanchez] to get out there. We've got a three-game [winning streak] and I'd have liked to have kept playing."
Mike Foltynewicz remains set to start Thursday night's game against the Mets at Citi Field. Gausman had been slated to make his Braves debut on Friday, but he will be pushed back a day in favor of Sanchez, who was Wednesday's scheduled starter.
With the addition of Gausman, the Braves have more flexibility to taxi prospects Kolby Allard and Max Fried between the Atlanta and Triple-A Gwinnett rosters as they creatively construct a six-man rotation without simultaneously carrying six starters. Touki Toussaint could also be a part of this mix, but there is a chance he could be used to add depth to the bullpen.
Before winning his Major League debut on Tuesday against the Marlins, Allard already knew he was being optioned to Gwinnett on Wednesday. His roster spot was filled by Wes Parsons, who packed his bags after Wednesday's postponement, knowing he would be optioned to create a roster spot for Gausman.
Julio Teheran and Sean Newcomb will flip-flop rotation spots to allow the latter a little more time to recover from Sunday's 134-pitch effort against the Dodgers. Teheran will face the Mets on Sunday and Newcomb will take three extra days of rest to the mound when he starts one of the two games against the Nationals on Tuesday.
Fried will be available to pitch out of the bullpen over the next few days and stands as a potential candidate to start one of the games during Tuesday's doubleheader at Nationals Park. If Fried is unavailable, Toussaint and Luiz Gohara are potential candidates to start the other game. But with Gwinnett being postponed each of the past two days, these plans remain fluid.
Because Allard was optioned on Wednesday, unless he replaces somebody put on the disabled list, he will not be eligible to return until Aug. 11, which is a day before the Braves would need to promote a pitcher to allow each of their starters to make their respective next turns with an extra day of rest.