Chris Carpenter returned to a bullpen mound on Friday for the first time since experiencing a temporary setback in his recovery from nerve-related shoulder weakness. The right-hander threw for about 10 minutes from a bullpen mound in 102-degree heat. Carpenter, who was within five days of beginning a minor-league rehab assignment when confronted by renewed weakness last Sunday in Kansas City, said Friday he believes himself back on course. "I think they have a little better feel of what's going on and I think the trip to Dallas was worthwhile," Carpenter said.

David Price was pulled before the eighth inning on Friday night because of lower back tightness. The left-hander insists that despite the injury, he'll make his next start. "I'll be pitching in five days," he said definitively. The injury happened in the seventh inning of Tampa Bay's 4-2 victory over Detroit when Price forced slugger Prince Fielder to ground out to short. He stayed in to face Delmon Young, who popped out to first to end the inning. "I just felt it after the fastball to Fielder," Price said. "It just tightened up on me a little bit. ... It was just something to be careful with."

Ryan Dempster won't pitch in a major league game until after July's All-Star break. "The earliest (he returns ) is sometime after the All-Star break," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. "We are still are going to wait and be sure everything is built up to whatever he can tolerate, but nothing earlier than that." Dempster, who has been on the disabled list since June 13 with a strained lat muscle, was scheduled to throw on flat ground on Friday.

After undergoing an MRI on his left knee, the best case scenario for Victor Martinez would be a mid-to-late September return to the Tigers. "From a stability standpoint, his knee looks great," trainer Kevin Rand said. "But his single-leg strength on that side isn't where it needs to be for him to begin running. "So for July, he'll go through a strengthening program. If all goes well and the strength of that leg is equal to the right side, he would begin a running progression for the month of August." Martinez, 33, hit .330 with 102 RBIs for the Tigers in 2011, his first year of a four-year contract with Detroit.

Ryan Howard went 2 for 4 with three RBIs Thursday night to start a minor league rehab assignment that the Phillies will watch closely as they determine whether they will be buyers or sellers at the trading deadline, according to an ESPN.com report.

Andre Ethier will not be placed on the DL and is officially listed as day to day with a strained oblique, the Dodgers announced Thursday. "Andre had pretty good news. Really good news," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "(Wednesday) I kind of assumed that we were going to be in a DL situation, but really the docs looked at him and didn't see any swelling. Couldn't be any better, as far as the news for Andre is concerned."

The Orioles have placed designated hitter Nick Johnson on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right wrist, according to an ESPN.com report on Thursday.

The Diamondbacks placed Daniel Hudson on the 15-day DL Wednesday with a right elbow injury that could lead to season-ending surgery. Manager Kirk Gibson said an MRI exam Wednesday in Phoenix showed a tear in Hudson's ulnar collateral ligament. Tommy John ligament-replacement surgery is a possibility, but Gibson said Hudson could seek a second opinion.

The Phillies have activated Chase Utley from the disabled list and he will make his season debut on Wednesday night against the Pirates. Utley had been on the DL with bilateral chondromalacia, a chronic left knee issue.

The Yankees have placed CC Sabathia on the disabled list with a strained muscle in his left leg. He will be out until after the All-Star break, but manager Joe Girardi said that if all goes right, Sabathia will miss only two turns in the rotation. Sabathia did not want to go on the disabled list, but Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told him during a Wednesday morning meeting that the club would not take any chances with his health.