Atlanta, GA – The Atlanta Braves have decided to keep just nine pitchers on their 25-man roster for Friday's wild card game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Kris Medlen will start the contest and only two other starters -- Tim Hudson and Mike Minor -- will be active for the game to be used in long relief, if necessary.
"Carrying Medlen, and then two starting pitchers with Huddy and Minor, we felt like we had enough innings covered, knock on wood, in the back end of the game, that is if this game gets crazy and we have to end up going 17, 18 innings whatever, those two guys could cover that area for us," said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez on Friday.
Luis Avilan, Chad Durbin, Cory Gearrin, Eric O'Flaherty, Jonny Venters and closer Craig Kimbrel will also work out of the bullpen.
Catcher Brian McCann is part of the roster, but won't start the contest because of a nagging hamstring injury. David Ross will get the start behind the plate and the Braves will carry a third catcher -- J.C. Boscan.
Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla, Andrelton Simmons, Chipper Jones, Jeff Baker, Lyle Overbay and Tyler Pastornicky will be the infielders. Michael Bourn, Jason Heyward, Martin Prado, Reed Johnson and Jose Constanza are the outfielders.
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