Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander will make first start Saturday

Detroit’s Justin Verlander is set to make his first start for the Tigers this season against the Cleveland Indians on Saturday.

The 2011 AL most valuable player and Cy Young Award winner has been sidelined all season after leaving a March 27 spring training game with a strained right triceps. His recovery included several setbacks before the last few weeks.

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Hunter Pence could be headed back to the disabled list. The San Francisco Giants right fielder, who didn’t make his season debut until mid-May because of a fractured left forearm, has not played since June 2 because of a sore left wrist.... Free-agent reliever Rafael Soriano has agreed to a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs and would get s $4.1-million, one-year deal if added to the major league roster. Soriano, 35, has 207 saves and a 2.85 earned-run average in 585 major league appearances. His deal includes $4 million in performance bonuses ... The St. Louis Cardinals placed left fielder Matt Holliday on the 15-day disabled list with a right quadriceps strain. Holliday was injured charging for Carlos Gonzalez’s fly ball in the second inning of Monday’s loss to the Colorado Rockies. ... The Tigers selected Michigan State outfielder Cam Gibson, son of former 1984 World Series champion Kirk Gibson, in the fifth round of the major league draft. ... Baltimore pitcher Virgilio Encarnacion has been suspended for 72 games following a positive test under baseball’s minor league drug program. The 23-year-old right-hander, on the roster of the Orioles’ Dominican Summer League team, tested positive for a metabolite of nandrolone, the commissioner’s office said Tuesday. There have been 53 suspensions this year under the minor league drug program.