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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

MLB Notes: Rougned Odor’s suspension reduced to 7 games, starts Friday

Rougned Odor will be eligible to return June 4 in the Texas Rangers’ home game against the Seattle Mariners. (LM Otero / Associated Press)
Associated Press

Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor started serving his suspension on Friday for punching Toronto’s Jose Bautista after the penalty was reduced from eight to seven games. Odor was out of the lineup for the series opener against Pittsburgh. He will be eligible to return on June 4 when Texas is home against Seattle.

The Rangers promoted former top prospect Jurickson Profar from Triple-A Round Rock, and he was in the lineup against the Pirates as the leadoff hitter playing second base. Odor had been leading off.

Odor’s penalty was cut by Major League Baseball special assistant John McHale Jr. The appeal over Odor’s role in a May 15 brawl between the Rangers and Blue Jays was heard on Tuesday. The league disciplined 14 players and staff over the melee in Arlington.

The team also placed RHP Shawn Tolleson on MLB’s Family Medical Emergency List. That leave is a minimum of three days and a maximum of seven days. Tolleson, who has 11 saves but lost his role as the Rangers’ closer after four blown saves, is going to be with his father, who is battling colon cancer.

Odor punched Bautista in the jaw in the top of the eighth inning of that May 15 game in Arlington after Bautista made a hard takeout slide at second base on Odor, which started the bench-clearing brawl. Bautista was on base after being hit with a pitch.

The only other Texas player suspended was shortstop Elvis Andrus, and he has already served his one-game suspension.

Profar hit .284 with five home runs and 26 RBIs in 41 games at Triple-A Round Rock this season. The switch-hitter played primarily shortstop for the Express before moving to second base earlier this month. His first game at second base was May 17, the same day the suspensions were announced.

The 23-year-old Profar has a career .231 batting average over 94 major league games with Texas in 2012 and 2013.

Bautista serves suspension

Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista had his one-game suspension upheld by MLB and served his penalty Friday, missing Toronto’s home game against the Boston Red Sox. Bautista was one of seven Blue Jays players and coaches penalized after the brawl.

Tensions between the Blue Jays and Rangers had been brewing since Bautista hit a tiebreaking three-run homer and dramatically flipped his bat in Game 5 of the A.L. Division Series last October.

Ezequiel Carreraled off and started in right field for Toronto on Friday. He went 2 for 4 in a 7-5 loss to Boston.

Buchholz moves to bullpen

Struggling Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz is being moved to the bullpen and left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will take Buchholz’s spot in the rotation, starting Tuesday in Baltimore.

Buchholz is 2-5 with a 6.35 ERA in 10 starts and has allowed five earned runs or more six times. He gave up season highs of six runs and three home runs in Thursday’s 8-2 loss to Colorado.

Rodriguez (right knee) is on the 15-day DL has not pitched for the Red Sox this season. He’s 0-3 with a 3.54 ERA in five rehab starts at Triple-A Pawtucket. He went 10-6 with a 3.85 ERA as a rookie in 2015.

Manager John Farrell said Buchholz will make multi-inning appearances in order to remain stretched out and could return to the rotation later in the season.