Blanco (elbow) struck out four and allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk across 4.1 innings Wednesday in a rehab start with Double-A Corpus Christi.
Blanco pushed his pitch count up to 60 (45 strikes) in his third rehab start as he works his way back from the Tommy John surgery with an internal brace that he underwent last June. The right-hander will likely need to get stretched out to around 70-to-80 pitches before becoming a viable option for the Houston rotation, likely at some point shortly after the All-Star break. Before going under the knife last summer, Blanco turned in a 4.10 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 48:20 K:BB in 48.1 innings over nine starts with Houston.