MILWAUKEE — Help is on the way for the Milwaukee Brewers‘ beleaguered bullpen Joe Blanton Jersey , but they will remain short-handed when they continue their series against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.Right-handers Matt Albers and Joakim Soria have made significant progress as they rehab from hamstring and thigh strains, though neither player is ready to be added to the active roster yet, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Monday ahead of Milwaukee’s 5-2 victory over the Reds at Miller Park.Albers, out since Aug. 7, is the closest to returning. He performed well during a minor league rehab assignment over the weekend and returned to the team Monday. He reported no more issues with his leg and said he used his time on rehab to work on his sinker and mechanics, two things that were issues as he compiled a 54.22 ERA in four appearances since coming back from a 40-day DL stint for a shoulder injury.Article continues below ...“We’re going to kind of play it day to day and see how it goes,” Counsell said. “He’s doing good. His last three outings went very well. He feels like he accomplished some things and that he’s healthy. He’s ready. We weren’t planning on activating him today unless there was a need. We’ll kind of go with that for the next couple of days, depending on need.”Soria will be evaluated again after he faces batters during a throwing session Tuesday.“We’ll let him get through that, and I’d say Wednesday we’ll probably be able to figure out what our next step is,” Counsell said.Albers was a big part of the Brewers’ early-season success. He had a 1.08 ERA thorough his first 21 appearances while Soria, acquired just ahead of the deadline to shore up what was — at the time — one of the top relief corps in baseball Howie Kendrick Jersey , had not allowed a run in six appearances before giving up a ninth-inning grand slam to the Padres’ Hunter Renfroe one batter before he was injured Aug. 9.With those two out and closer Corey Knebel still relegated to lower-leverage duty while he works through issues, the Brewers’ bullpen has struggled the last few weeks and will likely be short-handed Tuesday night against the Reds with Josh Hader and Jeremy Jeffress having worked Milwaukee’s last two games.A long outing from right-hander Junior Guerra (6-8, 3.73 ERA) would make things much easier Tuesday. Guerra is looking to bounce back from his last outing, when he failed to get through the fourth in an 8-4 loss to the Cubs in Chicago on Wednesday. Returning to Milwaukee should help Guerra, who has a 2.59 ERA in 80 innings at Miller Park.Against the Reds, Guerra has a 5.02 ERA in six career appearances (five starts) but is averaging nearly two full runs lower against Cincinnati in two starts this season (3.09), allowing four earned runs over 11 2/3 innings.Sal Romano’s last start left a bad taste, too. The right-hander only lasted 1 2/3 innings in a loss to Cleveland, surrendering six runs on seven hits and two walks with most of the damage coming during a four-run opening inning.“They did find the holes but I also fell behind every single hitter I faced,” said Romano, who is 7-10 with a 5.31 ERA this season. “It’s just unacceptable. It’s one of those days. I was on a pretty good run and obviously this kind of ruins that.”Prior to that outing Sean Doolittle Jersey , Romano had been on an upswing of sorts. He’d allowed seven runs over his previous 19 2/3 innings over five appearances.“It’s been like pitch good for a couple of weeks, pitch a really, really bad one,” Romano said. “There hasn’t really been that mediocre game where we’re still in the game and we come back and end up winning the game. It’s usually out of reach at the time when I come out of the game.”Romano has never beaten the Brewers in his career. He’s taken the loss in each of his five career starts against Milwaukee, posting a 5.70 ERA in 23 2/3 innings, including an 0-3 mark and 6.32 ERA at Miller Park.He’s fared better this season, allowing only two runs in each of his two starts against Milwaukee but took the loss in both games thanks to a lack of offensive support. BOSTON — What a perfect time for the Boston Red Sox to have a day off.Their weekend in St. Petersburg, not only disaster in terms of suffering their first series sweep of the season, was made worse by the New York Yankees sweeping four games in Baltimore to close the gap in the American League East.Three games on Players’ Weekend, three losses by a combined count of 24-5.Article continues below ...“Sometimes you go through tough times,” Red Sox infielder Eduardo Nunez said after Sunday’s 9-1 blowout at the hands of the upstart Rays. “Off-day tomorrow and start all over again.“This happens in a long season. We know it’s not going to be easy all the way through. At some point http://www.nationalsfanproshop.com/a...er-difo-jersey , you’re going to have tough times. It was a very tough week for us. Turn the page and keep going. We’re in first place for a reason.”Now losers of five of the last seven games, the Red Sox are home for a quick pair against the lowly Miami Marlins before heading back out on the road. Boston left-hander Brian Johnson faces the recently suspended Jose Urena in the opener Tuesday night.The Red Sox swept two games from the Marlins in Miami as part of a nine-game winning streak and 17-2 start to open the season. Johnson won one of those games and Urena pitched a strong game in a no-decision in the other.Johnson is 4-3 with a 4.12 ERA overall but 4-1 with a 3.63 ERA in 10 starts (the team is 8-2 in those 10 starts). He gave up one run in six innings in the early appearance at Miami.Urena, suspended for six games after hitting Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr., pitched a complete-game two-hitter against the Washington Nationals before serving his suspension. He comes off the suspension to pitch and brings a 4-12 record and 4.50 ERA into the game.After the right-hander dropped his appeal, manager Don Mattingly, who criticized Urena for throwing at Acuna on the first pitch of a game after the Atlanta rookie had hit four homers in three games against Miami, said, “It makes sense from our standpoint. Obviously, Jose had to make his decision. I think he made a good decision, getting this thing on the back side of him, and working toward the rest of the year.“He wasn’t going to participate in the series coming up Brian Goodwin Jersey , so there was no reason to prolong this.”The Marlins come into this game 53-72, but have split their last 10 games.Mattingly returns to the park where he did so many good things during his playing career. He hit .313 with four homers and 30 RBIs in 65 games (58 starts) at Fenway, .292 with 11 homers and 79 RBIs overall against the Red Sox.Obviously, his bat can’t help in this series — as the Red Sox look to shake off their miserable weekend and get back on track.The Sox were swept for the first time in almost exactly a year — when they were outscored 25-4 in the first Players’ Weekend, that one at Fenway.“Just a bad weekend,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “That’s it. They’re playing great baseball. They play great here. They’ve done this to some good teams. It was just a bad weekend in (St. Petersburg). Day off tomorrow and we’ll get them Tuesday.”J.D. Martinez, the subject of triple crown talk through much of the season, has overtaken teammate Mookie Betts for the American League batting lead (.337 to .335). He is second to Khris Young in home runs (39/38) and leads in RBIs (110).