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The Braves may have the best record in baseball, but the gut punches just keep on rolling in.
Twenty-four hours after Jason Heyward was lost for the remainder of the regular season (and possibly the postseason) with a broken jaw, the club announced Brandon Beachy will be scratched from Sunday's start in St. Louis and see Dr. James Andrews on Monday. Mike Minor, who was skipping his turn in the rotation on Thursday to rest, will start on Sunday.
Tom Hart tweeted that Beachy's velocity took a serious dip during his final inning against the Mets on Tuesday. Since returning from the DL, Beachy's fastball is sitting at 90.2 mph, which is down from his career average of 91.5. It sometimes takes awhile for pitchers coming off Tommy John surgery to regain velocity, and we can only hope Beachy is simply suffering from a bit of fatigue or a buildup of scar tissue.
More to come.
Also, Citi Field needs to be burned to the ground.