Report: Braves pick up Tyler Mahle from Giants

He struck out four. It’s Mahle’s shortest outing in four starts for the Braves, but he lowered his ERA for his new club to 1.52. He’ll be a great play at home against the Rockies next weekend.

Mahle gave up six hits, walked one and struck out three. He fell to 4-10 with the loss. Mahle pitched well. He allowed only two runs and worked into the seventh inning. It wasn’t his fault the Braves offense only scored one run. Mahle has allowed three runs in 18 2/3 innings (1.48 ERA) over his last three starts. He’s lined up to face the Dodgers at home next week.

Mahle looks reborn in his two starts since the trade deadline. His fastball and splitter played off each other beautifully here forcing a combined 13 swings-and-misses as he showed pinpoint command of each. He kept the ball away from the Mets’ righties so well and barely threw any pitches in the heart of the plate. Again, his command was simply masterful. This was also the first time he’s completed six innings in consecutive outings all season and he has 16 strikeouts, zero walks, and just one earned run through 12 innings as a Brave. He’s lined up for a two-start week against the Twins and Brewers coming up.

Perhaps it’s only fitting that Houser would turn in one of his strongest starts of the year against the club that made him a second-round pick back in 2011. The 33-year-old veteran allowed just two hits and one walk, but was forced to settle for a no-decision after San Francisco’s bullpen coughed up the lead following his departure. He’s operated in a swingman-type role for the Giants over the last few weeks and made his first traditional start in nearly two months. He’s under contract through next season, so it makes sense for San Francisco to keep rolling him out there over the final six weeks. He’ll get the ball for his next outing against the Guardians on Wednesday.

Houser struck out four batters on the evening while allowing one base on balls. The lone tally against him came on an RBI single off the bat of Zach McKinstry with two outs in the second inning. Aside from that, Houser was brilliant. He generated five swings and misses on 82 offerings in the ballgame, posting an underwhelming CSW of 23 percent. Now 3-7 on the season, he’ll tote a 4.55 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and a 65/31 K/BB ratio (97 innings) into Wednesday’s tilt against the Astros.

Making his Braves debut on Friday, Mahle went toe-to-toe with Yankees starter Max Fried, striking out a season-high nine batters while tossing six scoreless frames. This is the second time in as many starts that Mahle has struck out nine batters, only this time he didn’t allow five earned runs as we saw in his previous outing. Mahle was acquired from the Giants at this year’s trade deadline and has had an up-and-down year thus far. This outing was far better than we could have expected in a road start against the Yankees. We’ll see if Mahle can have similar success in his next start, which is scheduled for Wednesday at home against the Mets.

Brubaker has been a long reliever this year so he could deliver more than an inning here. It appears likely that the 33-year-old with a 3.17 ERA will be a bridge to Adrian Houser.

The Braves are really just taking on salary here, which in Mahle’s case is about $3 million, and they’re getting guy who has usually been pretty solid when healthy. Mahle has a 5.13 ERA this year, but he’s been better than that lately, posting a 3.79 ERA in his last seven starts. He’s actually throwing a little harder and has a higher strikeout rate (22 percent) than he did last year, when he had a 2.18 ERA in 16 starts for the Rangers. He’ll go into the injured Reynaldo López’s rotation spot for now. He’s still probably just an NL-only guy for fantasy purposes.

Mahle gave up two runs in the first, two more in the fourth, and another in the sixth without recording an out. The strikeouts are nice. Everything else here isn’t what you’re looking for, and it’s disappointing after his strong six innings of shutout baseball in his previous outing. Assuming he’s still a part of the Giants, he’ll have a chance to rebound against the Tigers on Friday.

That has to be good for a little bump in trade value. Mahle struck out three and walked two in improving to 3-9 with a 4.96 ERA on the season. He’s due to face the Padres on Saturday, but that outing should be considered very tentative with the trade deadline coming two days later. Mahle won’t be any contender’s top target, but he might be able to help a club get to October, even if he won’t be much use then.