MLB Player News

Cueto (elbow) is scheduled to make his season debut Tuesday against the Pirates, Maria I. Guardado of MLB.com reports.

Cueto came out of Saturday's bullpen session feeling good to clear the way for his return to the rotation after a 13-month recovery from Tommy John surgery. The veteran right-hander topped out at 75 pitches during his final rehab outing with Triple-A Sacramento, which provides a decent idea of his pitch limit for Tuesday.

Darvish tossed five scoreless innings in a no-decision against the Brewers on Saturday. He allowed three hits and a walk while striking out seven.

The Cubs announced before the game that Darvish would likely have a reduced workload after he was scratched from his previous start due to forearm tightness. Sure enough, the righty was pulled after throwing 72 pitches despite dominating the Brewers through five innings. While Darvish was unable to snag his sixth win of the year, it was good to see him look sharp in his return to the mound. He'll aim to go a bit deeper into the game his next time out Thursday against the Padres.

Freeland (groin) threw a bullpen session Saturday, Shaun O'Neill of MLB.com reports.

The 26-year-old last pitched for the Rockies on Aug. 20 before landing on the injured list with the left groin strain. Manager Bud Black still believes Freeland will be able to rejoin the Rockies before the end of the season, bu there's no specific indication of when he might be ready to return.

Cueto (elbow) threw a bullpen session Saturday, Kerry Crowley of The San Jose Mercury News reports.

Cueto is nearly ready to go following last summer's Tommy John surgery. The veteran right-hander was expected to rejoin the rotation last weekend before he experienced some upper-back soreness, but it now looks as though he could start sometime next week, perhaps as early as Tuesday, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.

Castillo (14-6) took the loss against Arizona on Saturday, pitching 7.2 innings and giving up two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out ten.

Castillo gave up both runs in the fourth inning on two hits, a walk, and an RBI groundout. The 26-year-old did not give up another hit until the eighth inning, departing after 111 pitches. Castillo tossed six or more innings for the 14th time in his last 17 outings. He'll carry a 3.21 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 208:69 K:BB into his next scheduled start, on the road in Seattle on Thursday.

Stripling will start Wednesday's game against the Orioles, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports.

Stripling threw 31 and 36 pitches in his first two appearances since coming off the injured list last weekend, so he'll likely be limited to a few innings again Wednesday. Stripling was followed by Dustin May in his last start, but May's status remains up in the air after he was hit in the head by a line drive during that outing.

Hendricks will start Monday in San Diego, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

The Cubs have decided to flip-flop Hendricks and Jon Lester in the rotation order; Lester is now starting Sunday's series finale in Milwaukee. This assures that Hendricks will be available to start a game during the team's Sept. 19-22 series against the Cardinals. Hendricks has allowed one run in 23 innings against St. Louis this season.

Keller (wrist) will start Tuesday against the Giants, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

A 105-mph line drive off the bat of Garrett Cooper hit Keller in the wrist and forced him from Tuesday's start after 1.2 innings. Keller is not quite ready to make his next start on schedule -- James Marvel will start Sunday in his absence -- but it sounds like Keller will not even miss a full turn through the rotation. He lines up to oppose fellow rookie Logan Webb in San Francisco.

Wacha will be deployed as a traditional starter for the opener of a three-game series versus the Rockies on Tuesday, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Wacha was utilized as a bullpen-day opener in his last turn, firing two scoreless innings against the Giants last Wednesday while pitching on short rest. However, he'll be back to serving as a conventional starter moving forward and will take the hill against Colorado with the benefit of a full five days off. Wacha has been slightly better as a starter than reliever in what's been a rough season, generating a 4.89 ERA across 99.1 innings, compared to a 5.68 figure over 12.2 frames out of the bullpen.

Wood, who was scratched from his scheduled outing Tuesday against the Phillies due to lower-back soreness, said he's hopeful to pitch again this season, Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Wood indicated that he first experienced back stiffness the morning after his Aug. 29 start in Miami, with the Reds opting to skip his subsequent turn in the rotation after he failed to show much improvement in the days that followed. Considering Wood missed the first three months of the season with a related injury, the Reds could be inclined to err on the side of caution and hold him out of the pitching schedule for additional turns. Tyler Mahle is expected to serve as the Reds' fifth starter for the duration of Wood's absence.