The Braves had a rough night against the Rockies on Friday, with the biggest blow being a potential oblique injury to the closer, Arodys Vizcaino. This was after Vizcaino sat out for nine days following an elbow issue, so it’s been a rough week and a half for Vizcaino.
Unfortunately, it’ll be a while before we see Vizcaino back on the mound for the Braves. After receiving further evaluation, Vizcaino has been diagnosed with a right oblique strain and will be placed on the 15-day disabled list.
RHP Arodys Vizcaino has been placed on the 15-day DL with a right oblique strain. LHP Eric O'Flaherty has been reinstated from the DL.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 16, 2016
Arodys Vizcaino has been solid for most of the season (he’s currently sitting on a 3.00 ERA and a 3.71 xFIP with an 11.75 K/9 and 10 saves), but a handful of rough outings as of late were concerning — and did a little bit of damage to his trade value, to boot — and this injury doesn’t help as well. Oblique injuries are notoriously tricky to recover from, so the hope here is that he won’t be out for a significant amount of time and will be able to return to the level he was at before his injury woes hit.
Meanwhile, Eric O’Flaherty will be returning to the big league squad after being activated from the DL. He currently has a 6.52 ERA and a 3.79 xFIP over 19.1 IP this season, and last appearance was on June 11th which is when he gave up three earned runs over two innings against the Cubs.