CLEVELAND — Anthony DeSclafani is scheduled to start Saturday for the Dayton Dragons in Fort Wayne, Indiana, after pitching 2 1/3 innings in Arizona on Sunday.

The Reds right-hander, who has been sidelined with an elbow injury since spring training, threw 47 pitches Sunday in his first competitive outing of the year. DeSclafani gave up three runs on three hits with a walk and three strikeouts against a Padres' Arizona Rookie League affiliate.

“He felt very, very positive about the outing,” Reds manager Bryan Price said before Monday’s game in Cleveland. “He showed good velocity, a good slider. he threw a couple of change-ups. It sounds like he came out of it well.”

DeSclafani is scheduled to increase his pitch count anywhere from 15-20 pitches this next time out. From there, Price said he’d like DeSclafani to get at least two starts at 85-to-100 pitches before being activated, if not three.

“By the time the smoke clears, we'll have missed him for about four-and-a-half months of our year, and that's a significant part of our rotation,” Price said. “Having him back certainly will be a big lift for those last five-to-six weeks of our season.”

37 GAMES IN 38 DAYS: Monday’s make-up date in Cleveland gave the Reds a stretch of 37 games in 38 days coming out of the All-Star break. The Reds will be off next Monday for travel between Miami and Pittsburgh before playing every day for 20 more days before the Aug. 21 off day.

“Well, it's been done before, so we're not the first,” Price said when asked about the streak on Monday. “Typically, at least once during the season, you get hit with a stretch like this. Typically because of a rain-out, which is the case, we had two of them, which has certainly extended the streak of consecutive games played. It's part of life in baseball.”

Price gave Adam Duvall the day off Monday and will use the game in Cleveland plus two against the Yankees to use the designated hitter to get some players rest and bench players a start.

On Monday, Scooter Gennett served as the team’s DH and Jose Peraza got a start at second base, while Patrick Kivlehan started in left for Duvall. Arismendy Alcantara will also get a start in one of the games in New York, Price said. The stretch will also allow more playing time for Peraza, who was recently moved to the bench in favor of Gennett.

Get the latest Reds news. Download our app on both the Apple App Store and Google Play.