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.

SARASOTA, Fla. — Zach Eflin will start for the Baltimore Orioles on Opening Day.

The Orioles posted a video on social media showing Eflin getting the news from his wife and children. The team visits Toronto for its opener on March 27.

Eflin, who turns 31 on April 8, went a combined 10-9 with a 3.59 ERA in 28 starts last season with Tampa Bay and Baltimore. The right-hander was 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA in nine starts after the Orioles acquired him at the trade deadline.

This will be the second straight season that Eflin has started a season opener against Toronto. He gave up six runs over 5 2/3 innings last season as the Rays lost 8-2 in their opener at home against the Blue Jays.

Eflin and right-hander Grayson Rodriguez are the Orioles’ top two returning starters after Corbin Burnes signed a six-year, $210 million contract with Arizona in free agency. Rodriguez is expected to open the season on the injured list because of shoulder inflammation.