Shane Carle and the Braves got good news Wednesday when tests revealed no ligament or other tissue damage in the reliever’s pitching arm.
Arguably the Braves’ most effective reliever this season, Carle left Tuesday night’s win against the Mets after throwing two pitches in the seventh inning when he felt numbness in the forearm and some fingers on his pitching hand.
“This morning we did a couple of different tests, and everything looked pretty good,” Carle said after throwing on flat ground Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field. “I’ll (throw) off the mound tomorrow and hopefully be ready to go back in Atlanta.”
After completing a three-game series against the Mets on Thursday, the Braves open a three-game series Friday against the Giants at SunTrust Park and hope to have Carle available.
That’s big news considering how much concern there was when he signaled to the dugout in his aborted appearance Wednesday. Head trainer George Poulis and manager Brian Snitker hurried to check on him and all walked to the dugout together moments later.
“I threw the first pitch and got a stinger down my forearm,” Carle said. “I figured it might be a coincidence, so I tried the second one and felt the same thing. Just kind of caught me by surprise, honestly. ...
“I didn’t want to risk it. I’ve never felt anything like that before, so I wanted to be safe rather than sorry, especially in a tight ballgame. I think it was 88 or 90 miles an hour, which is slow for me. Not a lot of good signs.”
Snitker was thrilled to get the report after Carle was put through a battery of tests Wednesday at a New York City hospital.
“Oh my God, yes,” Snitker said. “I’m really happy that it’s not anything serious with his arm or his body. But we’ll want to put him back on the mound a little bit (Thursday) before we get him back in a game.”
Carle has a 0.96 ERA in 14 appearances, allowing 15 hits and two earned runs with five walks and 17 strikeouts in 18-2/3 innings. Snitker said the right-hander has been as pleasant surprisingly as anyone on the team this season.
“He’s right there at the top because I didn’t know much about him, even at spring training,” Snitker said of Carle, who had only three previous major league appearances, with Colorado in 2017. “Then he makes the team. Had a couple of extended outings that he did a good job in, then you try a guy like that in a little higher-leverage situation and they come through, then you give them another, and they earn another one.
“So yeah, probably of everybody, that’s probably been the brightest surprise so far.”
Having never experienced any similar discomfort in his forearm, Carle worried when he felt the sensation on his first pitch Tuesday.
“I figured it might be a fluke thing, just pinched a nerve or something,” he said. “But then I felt it again on the second one. I wasn’t too happy about it. It started in my forearm and then shot up to my thumb, and a couple of my other fingers. Stinger, I guess, is the best way to describe it.
“They’re still mulling it over (as to what caused it), but the tests came back clean.”
