Baseball

Dempster has been roughed up in three straight outings (15 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings) after opening the season with a 2.93 ERA in seven starts. He's not going to be worth using in mixed leagues until he turns it around.

Middlebrooks initially hurt his back Wednesday, and the ailment forced him from Thursday's game after it acted up again. It sounds like he'll be fine in a day or two.

Middlebrooks struck out the inning before, but it's not clear if he tweaked something during that at-bat or earlier. It's not clear at this point how serious the ailment is. The Red Sox should provide an update after the game.

He's sitting out again Thursday, but the outfielder still seems likely to avoid the disabled list. "He's still day-to-day," Red Sox manager John Farrell said Thursday. "He's unavailable tonight. So, I think, we've used as a general rule of thumb, as we get to that halfway point of the potential of putting Shane on the [disabled list], we'll make a decision at that point, but we're no closer today to making a roster move.''

Perez is still building strength following shoulder surgery, so Ian Browne of MLB.com hears that he will likely report to Double-A Portland and work his way up from there. The 31-year-old southpaw owns a 3.64 ERA over 338 relief appearances in the majors, so he's a worthwhile flier for Boston.

Victorino has missed the last three games with left hamstring tightness, but he is still expected to avoid the disabled list. The hope is he'll be ready on Friday.

Ross has been out since May 11 with concussion-related symptoms. Assuming he avoids a setback in Portland, he will rejoin the Red Sox on Friday against the Indians.