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 http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-joakim-soria-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, man.”Minnesota heads to Texas after a 5-3 loss in Cleveland on Thursday afternoon Kelvin Herrera Jersey , 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. ST. LOUIS (AP) — Miles Mikolas‘ outing against the San Francisco Giants was typical, and typical for him is pretty good.Mikolas won his fourth straight start, Matt Carpenter hit his NL-leading 36th homer and the Cardinals beat the Giants 9-2 to complete a three-game sweep and remain on track for the NL’s second wild card.St. Louis (87-69) has won three straight games and six of seven. The Cardinals remained 1½ games ahead of Colorado (85-70) and two games behind Milwaukee http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-alcides-escobar-jersey , the wild card leader. St. Louis hosts the Brewers (89-67) in a three-game series starting Monday night.“We feel pretty good,” Mikolas said. “We feel strong. We feel like we’re a team that’s real dangerous and a team that’s going to come out and give a lot of people trouble.”Mikolas (17-4) allowed two runs — one earned — and two hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. John Brebbia and Giovanny Gallegos, who made his Cardinals debut, finished a five-hitter.“I had some good sink of my fastball so I tried to use that a lot,” said Mikolas, tied with Washington’s Max Scherzer and Chicago’s Jon Lester for the NL lead in wins. “Just pound the zone. They took some swings early so I was able to get some quick outs.”Mikolas has made 11 starts of at least seven innings and the two hits he gave up were a season low.“He works ahead in the count so that creates doubt,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “He can pretty much throw any pitch he wants at any time in the count. He throws inner half, which sets up the outer half, which disrupts the balance of the hitter and he can change speed which disrupts the timing of the hitter. That combination is what pitching is.”Andrew Suarez (7-12) gave up two runs and six hits in five innings as San Francisco gave him three runs or less of run support during his time in the game for the 21st time this season. The Giants finished 31-50 on the road for a two-year record of 57-105 away from home.San Francisco has lost 10 straight road games against NL Central teams since winning at the Chicago Cubs on May 27.“It’s a tough lineup,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of the Cardinals. “They’ve got power, speed, good athletes.”The bottom two in the Cardinals batting order built a 2-0 lead with two-out singles Jason Hammel Jersey , by Yairo Munoz in the second and Mikolas in the fourth.Harrison Bader bunted in a run to spark a five-run sixth that includes RBI singles by Munoz and Paul DeJong around Jose Martinez’s two-run double. Carpenter hit a two-run homer off Casey Kelly in the eighth.“Everybody contributed,” Carpenter said. “Guys finding a way to score even when we’ve got some guys that aren’t getting it done. It’s the making of a good team.”Brandon Crawford’s two-run homer in the seventh stopped an 0-for-9 skid.“I’ve faced him a few times back in 2012 but other than that I haven’t seen him for years,” Crawford said of Mikolas. “I was just looking for something up that I can put in play and try and just get the bat on and fortunately saw the curve ball enough to put the barrel on it.”TRAINING ROOMCardinals: 2B Kolten Wong missed his second consecutive start after leaving Friday’s game in the seventh inning with cramps in both hamstrings.DEBUTINF Edmundo Sosa was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. Sosa made his debut when he walked as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, and he scored on Carpenter’s home run.UP NEXTGiants: LHP Derek Holland (7-8, 3.57 ERA) starts the first of a three-game series at home against San Diego and RHP Bryan Mitchell (1-4, 6.16 ERA) on Monday night. Holland will make his first start since July 18, which was also against the Padres, where he allowed four runs in five innings.Cardinals: RHP Jack Flaherty (8-8, 3.08 ERA) kicks off a three-game home series Monday night against Milwaukee and RHP Chase Anderson (9-8, 3.93 ERA). Flaherty is 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA in four career starts against the Brewers.