ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Texas Rangers will skip Nick Tepesch when his next turn in the rotation comes up Friday.
Manager Ron Washington said Tuesday that the move is precautionary and the Rangers aren't going to rush Tepesch back after he pulled himself out of his previous start because of left knee soreness.
"Just skip him a turn, give him this one turn, and he should be ready to go when we get to Chicago," Washington said. "He took himself out of a game, and we don't want to rush him back. He's missing just one turn through the rotation. Give him a chance to catch up."
Jerome Williams will start Friday night in the series opener at Cleveland, followed by Miles Mikolas on Saturday and Yu Darvish on Sunday. Darvish is being pushed back a day.
Washington says Tepesch should be ready for his next turn in the rotation, Aug. 6 at the Chicago White Sox.
Tepesch left in the seventh inning Saturday night against Oakland because of the knee issue. That start had been pushed back a day because he pitched in relief in a 14-inning loss two days after he threw 99 pitches in his previous start.
Tepesch has some swelling in the knee, and the Rangers told him not to throw a bullpen session Tuesday.
"It feels a lot better than it did the other day," said Tepesch, who is 3-7 with a 4.84 ERA. "I'd say [the knee] is close [to 100 percent]. I won't say it's 100 percent."
ESPNDallas.com's Calvin Watkins and The Associated Press contributed to this report.