Health priority as Minor, Floyd throw in Minors

WASHINGTON -- As Mike Minor and Gavin Floyd were reminded on Thursday night, Major League pitchers can often be left frustrated by the results produced during a Minor League rehab assignment.

But instead of concerning himself with the lines the veteran pitchers produced, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez was simply happy to hear that both hurlers completed their respective outings in pain-free fashion.

Over the past week, there was reason to believe Minor and Floyd might both join Atlanta's starting rotation during April's fourth week. But Gonzalez is now indicating that Minor could make his season debut around that time, and Floyd's debut could occur the following week.

Minor has gone more than a month without feeling the left shoulder discomfort that plagued him during the early portion of Spring Training. He allowed three earned runs and surrendered four hits while completing two innings for Double-A Mississippi in Thursday night's loss to Mobile. After striking out the first two Mobile batters he faced, Minor surrendered four consecutive hits -- a home run, a triple and two doubles. But he ended his 39-pitch outing with three more strikeouts in a perfect second inning.

Floyd, who is attempting to return from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery, allowed two earned runs, issued two walks and surrendered a pair of hits in 1 1/3 innings for Triple-A Gwinnett in Thursday's loss to Durham. His 42-pitch outing was marred by Kevin Kiermaier's two-run homer in the second inning.