ATLANTA -- Things went from bad to worse for the Braves on Monday, when they exited a demoralizing 8-7 loss to the Mets and announced Chris Sale wouldn’t be starting the second game of the doubleheader against New York.

Sale was scratched with back spasms that worsened when he was completing his normal between-starts throwing exercises on Sunday. So instead of sending a top Cy Young Award candidate to the mound in a win-or-go-home game, the Braves went with rookie Grant Holmes, who was told of his assignment approximately 30 minutes before first pitch.

“It’s a day-to-day thing for now,” Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said. “We could make roster moves between games and all of that, but it’s not [too significant]. It’s a spasm.”

There’s been reason to be skeptical about Sale’s health going back to his most recent start on Sept. 19 in Cincinnati. His four-seam fastball dropped below 90 mph during the final two innings of a five-inning performance. The Braves said he was fine, but Anthopoulos now revealed the 35-year-old hurler experienced some back discomfort that day.

Still, the expectation was Sale was going to be available to start either Monday’s second game, or preferably the first game of a Wild Card Series against the Padres on Tuesday. The Braves entered Monday needing to win just one game to earn a postseason berth.

“He'd been throwing all week just to keep his arm going,” Anthopoulos said. “He went out to throw [on Sunday] and came in after and told us that his back was tight. He said he’s pitched with worse. So we said we’ll talk in the morning. He came in the office around noon and the more we talked, the right thing was to not [pitch Monday].”

How confident were the Braves that Sale would be available if necessary on Monday? They had Holmes throw 1 2/3 innings (21 pitches) during Sunday’s loss to the Royals.

“[Sale] is crushed,” Anthopoulos said. “There was a little bit of, 'Should he go out there or not?' But ultimately at the end of the day, if you’re not at your best and you don’t ultimately believe you can help your team and you can hurt yourself, it’s not a good outcome across the board.”

Anthopoulos wasn’t willing to rule out the possibility of Sale being ready to start during the best-of-three Wild Card Series, which would run Tuesday-Thursday. But flying cross-country to San Diego isn’t necessarily a comfortable task for anybody with back problems, especially somebody who is 6-foot-6.

“We’re just not ready to rule anything out because it’s a spasm,” Anthopoulos said.

Sale ended the regular season with an MLB-best 2.38 ERA. He finished tied with Tarik Skubal for the most wins (18) and was three behind the Tigers ace’s MLB-leading strikeout total (228).

Had Sale pitched on Monday, he had a chance to become the first pitcher to lead MLB in wins, ERA and strikeouts since Johan Santana in 2006.