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Braves Make Significant Change With Chris Sale's Next Start: Report

Originally posted on Atlanta Braves on SI
By Dave Holcomb | Last updated Jun 14, 2025 8:25 PM ET

The Atlanta Braves will go for a sweep against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. They will now aim to break out the brooms with Grant Holmes on the mound instead of Chris Sale.

MLB.com's Mark Bowman and The Athletic's David O'Brien reported Saturday night that the Braves have decided to save Sale for the upcoming week's series versus the New York Mets. Holmes will start Sunday versus Colorado instead.

Holmes made his last start on June 10. He received his regular four days of rest because the Braves had an off day on Thursday.

Bowman tweeted the Braves didn't say if Sale would start the first game of the series versus the Mets on Tuesday. But the team said that the left-hander would start one of the three contests against the Mets at Truist Park.

New York is in Atlanta from June 17-19.

O'Brien tweeted the same report. Bowman also clarified that Sale is being moved back in the team's rotation for strategic purposes only, not to give him extra rest.

The Braves will push Sale back to start one of the games against the Mets. Grant Holmes will start tomorrow. The Braves aren't committing to Sale starting Tuesday. But it doesn't sound like this is like the end of last year, where they were hiding Sale's injury.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 14, 2025

#Braves shuffling their rotation, instead of using Sale against the Rockies Sunday they'll start him in one of the games against the Mets in the Tuesday-Thursday series. Holmes will start Sunday's series finale vs. Colorado.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) June 14, 2025

Professional baseball teams can never take anything for granted. But the Braves should be able to defeat the Rockies even with a somewhat struggling Holmes on the mound Sunday. Atlanta outscored Colorado 16-4 in the first two games combined of the series on Friday and Saturday.

Holmes has allowed three earned runs in each of his last three starts. Against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday, he struck out nine but also walked three and yielded two home runs.

Holmes is 3-5 with a 4.07 ERA, 1.219 WHIP, 77 strikeouts and 73 innings across 14 appearances, including 13 starts this season.

Bowman added in another tweet Saturday night that if the Braves waited until Wednesday to start Sale, then he could also face the Mets again when the two rivals meet in New York toward the end of June.

By lining Sale up for Wednesday or Thursday, the Braves can have him set up to also start against the Mets the following week in New York
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 15, 2025

Sale is only 4-4 this season but with a 2.79 ERA and 1.215 WHIP and 107 strikeouts in 80.2 innings. The left-hander experienced a rough start to 2025, but he is 4-2 with a 1.41 ERA in his last nine outings.

The Braves are entering a critical point in their season. They entered this home stand nine games below .500. With two wins against the Rockies, they have crept back closer to .500, but a sweep Sunday would be a really big step in the right direction.

Then Tuesday, the Braves will begin a stretch of 13 consecutive games against NL East opponents.

The Braves sit 13 games back of the first-place Mets in the division race.

This article first appeared on Atlanta Braves on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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