Reds targeting Sunday for Moscot's return

CHICAGO -- Right-hander Jon Moscot appears on track to be activated from the disabled list and start against the Cardinals on Sunday. Moscot, who strained his left intercostal muscle in mid-March, pitched his second Minor League rehab assignment game for Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday, throwing 82 pitches over 5 2/3 innings with five earned runs, six hits, no walks and six strikeouts.
"I felt, actually, really good yesterday," Moscot said on Wednesday. "The results were not entirely what I would like -- I gave up some runs -- but as far as the way my body felt and in locating pitches, I felt really, really good. I'm definitely on the right path moving forward."
The Reds are still listing Sunday's starter as "TBA," however.
"We still have the time in the aftermath of the game and the bullpen [session] and all that," manager Bryan Price said. "We can say we're anticipating he'll be ready to go."
Moscot was in line for a rotation spot during Spring Training until he was hurt while swinging a bat in batting practice. He has taken swings lately, but has not taken any BP.
"We're going to get to that in the next couple of days," said Moscot, who pitched his first rehab game at Class A Daytona.
Another injured starter, Anthony DeSclafani (strained left oblique) threw 45 pitches in the bullpen on Wednesday.
"It was good," DeSclafani said. "We'll see how everything feels [on Thursday]. That's the most important thing, how I recover and stuff. I think we'll know more tomorrow and see what the plan is."
If DeSclafani shows no ill effects after throwing, his next step is likely a Minor League rehab assignment.
"We have to be thoughtful in how we lay out the remainder of his rehab to get him ready," Price said. "I don't want to put him on a short leash; we don't need another young pitcher that's going to come here with a 75-pitch cap on his pitch limit. That's not going to help our ballclub; it's not going to help the kid. We want to make sure when he comes back, he's stretched out to the point where we can anticipate somewhere in the 90-to-100 pitch count going into the game."