Braves lose All-Star SP to IL as playoff hopes take hit

The Atlanta Braves are 6.0 games behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies and 2.0 games ahead of the third-place New York Mets in the NL East. More importantly, the Braves are only percentage points ahead of the San Diego Padres for the first NL wild-card spot and 0.5 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks in a frantic playoff picture .

Atlanta's rotation took a serious hit on Monday, as All-Star starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez was placed on the 15-day injured list due to forearm inflammation.

As David O'Brien of The Athletic noted , the 30-year-old's recent MRI came back clean, and the situation could be a blessing in disguise. The downtime will give the Braves a chance to rest Lopez and keep his innings "more manageable," as he continues his transition to being a full-time starting pitcher for the first time since 2020.

The righty's 104 2/3 innings pitched are the third-most of his career and highest number since he completed 184 frames with the Chicago White Sox in 2019.

Still, any amount of time that Atlanta doesn't have Lopez available is a blow to its already precarious playoff hopes.

The Braves haven't missed the postseason since 2017, one year before superstar outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. debuted. The reigning NL MVP is out for the year due to a torn left ACL.

In a pitching staff that opened the campaign with two-time All-Stars Charlie Morton and Max Fried, eight-time All-Star Chris Sale and one-time All-Star Spencer Strider, Lopez has arguably been the second-best arm of the group.

Strider was shut down for the season in April after suffering a UCL injury.

Sale (a NL Cy Young contender) is 13-3 with a 2.71 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 155 strikeouts over 123 innings pitched covering 20 starts. Lopez has gone 7-4 with a 2.06 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 102 strikeouts in 104 2/3 innings over 19 starts.