Texas left-hander Martin Perez won’t be on the mound to start

any of the Rangers‘ three games this weekend against the Minnesota Twins.If fact Dave Winfield Jersey , Perez is likely to have started his last game in a Rangers uniform after the team told him he will pitch out of the bullpen for the final month of the season and that it did not plan to pick up his option for 2019.The Twins will send left-hander Stephen Gonsalves (0-2, 11.37 ERA) to the mound for the series opener on Friday at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers will counter with right-hander Drew Hutchinson (2-2, 6.52).Article continues below ...The Rangers were looking for an improved season from Perez after he finished strong in 2017, when he won a career-high 13 games. But he suffered a right elbow injury in an offseason accident at his ranch in Venezuela and was 2-3 with a 9.67 ERA in five starts in April.Perez was then placed on the disabled list with more problems in the right arm. Since being activated on July 14, he is 0-3 with a 5.68 ERA in eight starts.The Rangers told Perez of their decision in a meeting after a 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night, Texas’ fourth straight setback.“It surprised me,” Perez said. “I understand, you know, the way I’ve been pitching. I can’t get mad. But 100 percent I wasn’t waiting for that. That surprised me.“Tough year for me — surgery, the ups and downs — and that’s when you need to have your mind strong and fight with the bad result that you have after the games and during the game. It’s just part of the game Jack Morris Jersey , man.”Minnesota heads to Texas after a 5-3 loss in Cleveland on Thursday afternoon, in the process dropping a three-game series to the Indians.The Twins have now lost three straight series and head to Texas a season-high-tying 14 games behind Cleveland in the American League Central standings.Twins left fielder Eddie Rosario left Thursday’s game in the fifth inning with a right quad strain he sustained while running to first base in the fourth.“We’ll probably find out tomorrow what we’re looking at,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “I would imagine he’s not going to play in Texas. He said it was on the last step.”The 26-year-old Rosario has been Minnesota’s best all-around player this year, hitting .292 with 22 homers, 31 doubles and 74 RBIs in 130 games.Rosario told MLB.com that he’d never experienced a similar injury.“I feel in pain,” Rosario said. “It just felt like I pulled my muscle. I was trying to play through it, but the pain is there.”Gonsalves is making his third career start and first against Texas. He suffered the loss in his last start on Aug. 25 at home against Oakland after allowing four runs, seven hits and four walks with two strikeouts in five innings.Gonsalves began the season in Double-A Chattanooga, where he went 3-0 in four starts with a 1.77 ERA. At Triple-A Rochester, was 9-3 with a 2.96 ERA with 55 walks and 95 strikeouts.Hutchison will make his fifth start for Texas. He is 1-1 with an 8.83 ERA in four starts and opponents are hitting .329 in that span. He is 2-0 with a 4.41 ERA in three starts against the Twins, but will be facing them for the first time since 2015. A spot in the team record books is on the line Sunday http://www.bluejaysfanproshop.com/authentic-curtis-granderson-jersey , as well as an opportunity to solidify their playoff positioning.But if the St. Louis Cardinals are to beat the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium and capture their 11th consecutive series, they will probably need a strong start from a guy that recently lost his spot in the rotation.Manager Mike Shildt has opted to give an extra day of rest to the likes of Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas and John Gant ahead of their starts Monday through Wednesday in Washington. Shildt is going with righthander Luke Weaver (7-11, 4.59 ERA), who will make his first start since an Aug. 16 loss to the Nationals, which occurred four days after he was scratched with a cut on his right index finger from trying to open a food tray.Article continues below ...After starting the season as perhaps the team’s second-best starter behind Carlos Martinez, Weaver hasn’t been able to consistently command his pitches. Good starts became less frequent, replaced by outings in which the Cardinals had to dip into their bullpen before the fifth inning was over.Since moving to the bullpen, Weaver has yielded one run and five hits in four innings over three appearances, picking up the win in a 5-2 victory Aug. 21 at the Los Angeles Dodgers with 2 1/3 innings.Weaver is 3-0 with a 5.16 ERA in five career games against Cincinnati, but will probably be on a short leash. With St. Louis (76-60) occupying one of the two wild-card spots in the National League and sporting a fresh bullpen after Tyson Ross soaked up 4 2/3 innings of long relief in Saturday night’s 4-0 defeat Aaron Loup Jersey , Weaver won’t have much room for error.The Cardinals had little chance Saturday night. Reds starter Luis Castillo dominated for 6 2/3 innings, whiffing 11 and allowing only two hits in earning the win.“The reality is not a lot of people are going to do anything to him with what he had,” Shildt said of Castillo. “He had really nasty stuff and was able to repeat it and, locate it. Nice outing by that young man.”Cincinnati righthander Anthony DeSclafani (7-4, 4.34) will try to replicate what Castillo did. In his last outing Tuesday night, DeSclafani picked up a 9-7 victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday, allowing seven hits and four runs in 6 2/3 innings while walking one and fanning six. He went 3-1 with a 2.62 ERA in five August starts.“I think we see Anthony DeSclafani as handling the workload,” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said to mlb.com before Tuesday night’s game. “He’s a good Major League pitcher.”DeSclafani has pitched well against the Cardinals in his four-year career, going 5-2 in nine outings (eight starts) with a 3.30 ERA. But they got to him July 15, ripping him for six runs on five hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings of a 6-4 loss. And St. Louis might beef up its lineup for the series finale. It activated left fielder Marcell Ozuna (shoulder) off the 10-day disabled list Saturday. Shildt said before Saturday night’s game that he anticipates Ozuna will return to the lineup Sunday.The Cardinals enter Sunday 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.