Rangers pitchers Hamels, Griffin make more progress

The next step for Cole Hamels in his road back to the Texas Rangers' rotation is to throw live batting practice early in the week at Houston.

The left-hander threw his third bullpen session Sunday while the Rangers took on the Washington Nationals. He again felt no issues with his strained right oblique, which he injured more than a month ago.

If all goes well with live BP, he could be sent on a rehab assignment and return to the Rangers either just before or after the All-Star break.

Hamels is about three weeks ahead of right-hander A.J. Griffin, who has the same injury. Griffin played catch Saturday for the second straight day and said that he had no issues.

Griffin isn't sure when he will start to throw bullpen sessions.

"I'm going to prepare fairly slowly," Griffin said. "When I get hurt like his, I turn off my brain and do what they tell me to do."

Griffin might not have a rotation spot once he is healthy. Hamels and Tyson Ross should both be off the disabled list, joining Yu Darvish, Andrew Cashner and Martin Perez in the rotation.

Center fielder Carlos Gomez was scheduled to give his strained right hamstring its first game test by serving as the designated hitter Saturday night for Triple A Round Rock. He is likely to be reinstated from the DL next weekend.

This story was originally published June 10, 2017 at 11:48 AM with the headline "Rangers pitchers Hamels, Griffin make more progress."