St. Louis, MO – In a pair of expected moves, the Atlanta Braves activated pitcher Paul Maholm from the 15-day disabled list and named him the starter for Thursday's matchup with St. Louis, while placing outfielder Jason Heyward on the DL with a fractured jaw.
Maholm returns to the rotation after missing just over a month with a bruised left wrist the left-hander sustained during a July 10 meeting with Miami.
Maholm did make one more start after the injury, but was tagged for seven runs on seven hits in just three innings of work on July 20 against the White Sox before landing on the DL the following day.
Over 20 starts this season, the 31-year-old southpaw owns a 9-9 record and a 4.41 earned run average.
Heyward underwent surgery Thursday to repair a fractured jaw the Atlanta outfielder sustained in the sixth inning of Wednesday's win over the Mets when New York starter Jon Niese plunked him in the side of the face.
The 24-year-old former first-round pick was hitting .253 with 13 homers and 37 RBI prior to the injury and is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks.
The Braves also claimed infielder Elliot Johnson off waivers from the Kansas City Royals and optioned infielder Phil Gosselin to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Johnson appeared in 79 games for the Royals this season and batted .179 with two home runs, nine RBI and 14 stolen bases.
Gosselin made his major league debut with the Braves on Aug. 16 and collected two hits and a pair of runs in six at-bats over four games.
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