Masterson may be ready to rejoin Tribe

KANSAS CITY -- Sinkerballer Justin Masterson has completed what could be his final step before rejoining the rotation.

On Friday night, Masterson made his second Minor League rehab appearance for Triple-A Columbus, logging 108 pitches in 6 2/3 innings against Norfolk. Prior to the outing, manager Terry Francona said the hope was that Masterson would now be ready to be activated from the 15-day disabled list and in line for his next start.

"We're hoping this is the last one," Francona said before the game against the Royals, a 6-4 loss. "I think we'd like him to kind of be ready to go. We'll see. We've got [Tim Belcher, a special assistant to baseball operations] there, and we'll kind of monitor things. We'll talk to Masty."

Masterson was not particularly sharp for Columbus, issuing six walks and ending with four strikeouts. He was charged with five runs, though three of them scored after he exited. The goal was to have him pitch deep into the game to test his right knee, and he accomplished that by working into the seventh.

Through 19 starts this season -- the last coming on July 7 -- Masterson went 4-6 with a 5.51 ERA, 93 strikeouts and 56 walks in 98 innings. As a first-time American League All-Star in 2013, he won 14 games, posted a 3.45 ERA and piled up 195 strikeouts in 193 innings.

Pitching coach Mickey Callaway said that Cleveland hopes that getting Masterson back to full strength and having Danny Salazar return to form can give the team a lift down the stretch.

"We'd like to get [Masterson] back in the rotation and pitching well," Callaway said. "If we can get him and Salazar going, we'd have a chance to make a run. They've both got to get going and pitch kind of like they did last year."