Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Erik Swanson received relatively good news when an MRI earlier this week on his pitching elbow revealed no structural damage, according to multiple reports Friday.

Swanson was diagnosed with what the team called median nerve entrapment, or carpal tunnel syndrome, according to the reports. He will get a cortisone shot and rest his arm for a few days.

The Blue Jays announced earlier this week that Swanson was scheduled to meet with elbow surgeon Dr. Keith Meister on Thursday following the onset of discomfort in his right elbow during a recent bullpen session.

Swanson, 31, spent the past two seasons as a key piece of the Blue Jays’ bullpen and dealt with right forearm discomfort earlier this spring. He has not pitched in a spring training game this year.

He was 2-2 with a 5.03 ERA, 14 walks and 37 strikeouts in 39⅓ innings over 45 relief appearances last season.

In six seasons with the Seattle Mariners (2019-22) and Blue Jays, Swanson is 10-16 with 10 saves, a 3.97 ERA and a 1.116 WHIP, 69 walks and 278 strikeouts in 240 games (11 starts) over 260⅔ innings.

NORTH PORT, Fla. — Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley left a Grapefruit League game Friday after a pitch hit him in the hand that he broke last season.

Riley got hit by a pitch from Jackson Rutledge in the first inning of the Braves’ game with the Washington Nationals. Riley held out his right hand immediately afterward in apparent pain before heading up the first base line.

Riley was removed when the Braves took the field in the top of the second inning.

The Braves announced that the two-time All-Star had been taken out of the game “as a precaution.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and MLB.com reported that X-rays were negative.

Riley, who turns 28 on April 2, batted .256 with a .322 on-base percentage, 19 homers and 56 RBIs last year. His season ended after he was hit in the right hand by a 97 mph fastball from Los Angeles Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz. An MRI revealed his hand was fractured.

Riley finished seventh in the MVP balloting in 2021, sixth in 2022 and seventh again in 2023. He hit at least 33 homers in each of those seasons.

Left-hander Carlos Rodon was tabbed as the New York Yankees‘ Opening Day starter Friday by manager Aaron Boone.

The Yankees open the season at home against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 27.

A serious injury to ace right-hander Gerrit Cole opened the door for Rodon. Cole underwent Tommy John surgery Tuesday.

“It’s an honor,” Rodon told reporters. “I’m excited. Just want to go out there and win the game.”

Boone said left-hander Max Fried will start the second game. The former Atlanta Braves standout signed an eight-year, $218 million free agent deal in the offseason.

Rodon, 32, is entering the third season of a six-year, $162 million deal. He is 19-17 with a 4.74 ERA in 46 starts with New York. A two-time All-Star, he won a career-best 16 games last season.

“I feel like his arsenal continues to evolve — the secondary stuff is getting stronger and stronger, the changeup becoming a real factor for him now,” Boone said of Rodon.

This will be Rodon’s second Opening Day start; he also received the honor in 2019 for the Chicago White Sox.

“Honestly it’s just the first game of the season,” Rodon said. “It’s another baseball game. Take it like another game, it just so happens to be the first game of the year.”

Right-hander Freddy Peralta will start for the Brewers.

Field Level Media contributed to this report.