Blue Jays’ Saunders poised to make debut in Tampa

Saunders resumes rehab; nearing return to the majors

After returning to his rehab assignment at high-A Dunedin following a six-day break to rest a tight right hamstring, outfielder Michael Saunders is finally poised to make his Blue Jays debut during the team’s upcoming weekend series in Tampa Bay.

The plan was originally to send Saunders to triple-A Buffalo for a few games to get him some at-bats against a higher calibre of pitching. But since the Blue Jays travel to Florida this weekend for a series with the Rays anyway, the plan now is for the 28-year-old to remain in Dunedin and possibly rejoin the major league club as early as Friday.

Saunders was scheduled to play left field in the first game of a double-header for Dunedin on Tuesday and serve as the designated hitter in the second game. The Blue Jays are still looking to see him play a full nine innings in the field before he completes his rehab assignment. Gibbons said that upon joining the Blue Jays, Saunders would be immediately inserted into the starting lineup.

"He’s had a lot of at-bats, if you think about it," Gibbons said. "He was taking at-bats during spring training. He wasn’t running, but when pitchers were throwing bullpens he stood in there and tracked the ball. So I don’t think [rust will be] an issue. When he comes up, he’s here to play."

Travis out of the lineup with rib injury; Reyes in

Devon Travis was not in the Toronto Blue Jays’ starting lineup for the first time this season Tuesday after coming out of Sunday’s game with a bruised left rib. The 24-year-old is hoping to play Wednesday.

Travis suffered the injury when he took a 94-mph Shelby Miller fastball off his lowermost left rib in his first at-bat Sunday afternoon. He then aggravated it when he was forced to dive back to first base on a pick-off attempt.

"I really did not want to dive, since the bruise is right in the front. So when you dive you have to land right on it," Travis said. "But I had to get back pretty fast and as soon as I landed on it I immediately felt like someone stuck a knife through my ribs. It didn’t feel good."

After a day of icing and rehabilitation on Monday, Travis intended to play Tuesday, getting to the ballpark early in the day to receive stimulation treatment and prepare his injured midsection for game action. He felt fine swinging a bat, but he still felt some discomfort when running and the decision was made to give him another day of rest.

"If I play through it today I might wake up tomorrow in worse pain. So hopefully today I’ll knock it all out and I’ll be good to go tomorrow," Travis said. "I’ll be pretty upset if I don’t get over this bruise by tomorrow."

The injury comes at an especially frustrating time for Travis who has been enjoying a hot start to the season, batting .356/.408/.644 with three home runs.

"It’s a pretty deep bruise but I feel like as soon as the inflammation gets out it’ll be all good," Travis said. "Today if I were to dive for a ball or dive back to the bag, I’d be going through the same exact pain that I was a few days ago. The biggest thing is just trying to get rid of it, so that going forward it’s not something that I have to think about. "

Ryan Goins took Travis’ place at second base, batting ninth, while shortstop Jose Reyes returned to the lead-off spot that Travis had been occupying for the past three games. Reyes is dealing with a cracked rib himself, but feels good enough batting right-handed to play through it. He hasn’t played since coming out of last Thursday’s game in the second inning.

"It’s crappy because my man Reyes over there is playing through it and I’m over here with a dang bruise and I’m sitting out," Travis said with a laugh. "But I’ll be back quick. Just as soon as the pain goes away."