In the first step on his way back to the Major League team Kenny Rogers started for the Toledo Mudhens this evening. The Mudhens faced the Norfolk Tides and there is more detail in the boxscore and log at milb.com.

Kenny had a solid outing and was kept to 51 pitches in 3.2 innings facing 13 batters:

This is certainly good news with the rest of the team hurting with Zach Miner, Joel Zumaya and Nate Robertson on the DL right now. Danny Knobler’s MLive blog states that Kenny’s next start could be with the West Michigan Whitecaps since they are close and Toledo and Erie will be on the road:

In other news today, Jim Leyland said there’s a good chance that Kenny Rogers’ second (and possibly final) rehab start could be Friday night at West Michigan. Triple-A Toledo and Double-A Erie are both on the road that night, so the Tigers will likely have Rogers pitch for the Whitecaps, who host Dayton.

If all goes well he could rejoin the team sometime the week of the June 18th which is well ahead of the original schedule. He will be a welcome addition.