Houston starting pitcher Ronel Blanco talks with second-base umpire Tripp Gibson after being ejected following a foreign substance check during the fourth inning against the Oakland Athletics Tuesday in Houston. David J. Phillip/Associated Press

HOUSTON — Astros starter Ronel Blanco received a 10-game suspension Wednesday for violating MLB’s prohibitions on foreign substances after being ejected from the game against the Oakland Athletics.

The suspension was announced by Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations. The suspension will begin Wednesday night unless Blanco appeals the penalty, which also includes an undisclosed fine.

Houston GM Dana Brown said Blanco will not appeal the suspension.

“Initially, he was thinking about appealing, and then him and his agent said, ‘Look, I want to get back out there. I’m not going to appeal this.’ And he’s going to move forward,” Brown said.

Blanco threw a no-hitter in his season debut and is 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA this season. With the Astros using a six-man rotation, Brown said the right-hander will probably only miss one turn.

“Ronel Blanco is a good human being,” Brown said. “He’s a good dude. He’s worked his butt off to get into the starting rotation. I think he sees it as, look, I don’t want to be out. I don’t want to extend this any longer. I want to get back to the business of pitching.”

Blanco was ejected at the start of the fourth inning of the 2-1 win over Oakland on Tuesday after umpires found a foreign substance that first-base umpire Erich Bacchus said was “the stickiest stuff I’ve felt on a glove.”

Third-base umpire Laz Diaz ejected Blanco after a check of his glove before he threw a pitch in the fourth inning. The umpires, Blanco and Houston Manager Joe Espada stood at the mound for a couple of minutes discussing the issue before the right-hander was ejected.

Bacchus said there was nothing on Blanco’s glove when he checked it in the middle of the first, but he discovered it when he did his second check before the fourth.

“I felt something inside the glove,” Bacchus said. “It was the stickiest stuff I’ve felt on a glove since we’ve been doing this for a few years now.”

After Bacchus discovered the substance he called the rest of the crew in to confer.

“Everybody checked the glove to make sure we all had the same thing and he had to get ejected because he had a foreign substance on his glove,” Diaz said.

Blanco denied using an illegal substance.

“Just probably rosin I put on my left arm,” he said in Spanish through a translator. “Maybe because of the sweat it got into the glove and that’s maybe what they found.”

Espada added that when he went to the mound he saw “white powder” inside Blanco’s glove.

“It looked to me when I grabbed the glove (that) there was some rosin,” Espada said. “You’re not allowed to use rosin on your non-pitching hand and that’s what it looked like to me. It was a little bit sticky with the moisture and the sweat but that’s what it looked like to me.”

WHITE SOX: The Chicago White Sox acquired outfielder Corey Julks from the Houston Astros  in a trade for minor-league right-hander Luis Rodriguez, then optioned Julks to Triple-A Charlotte.

MARINERS: Outfielder Dominic Canzone was activated after missing a month with a left shoulder injury.

Canzone was placed on the injured list on April 15 with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder after crashing into the outfield wall. Canzone played three games on a rehab assignment and was instantly placed into the lineup in left field against Kansas City.

RANGERS: Max Scherzer was transferred to the 60-day injured list, when the Texas Rangers made a move they initially avoided at the start of the season when there was some hope the three-time Cy Young Award winner might return from offseason back surgery sooner than expected.

When Scherzer made his initial rehab appearance April 24, he appeared to be on track to possibly rejoin the rotation this month. But he was scratched from his next scheduled rehab start six days later because of right thumb soreness that team doctors later identified as a nerve issue that extended to his right triceps.

He had cortisone injections and Botox injections to the shoulder and neck area May 9 to alleviate pain associated with nerve issue.

The earliest Scherzer could be activated now is May 28, though it is unclear when he might be ready to pitch this season.

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES

ORIOLES 3, BLUE JAYS 2: Adley Rutschman’s two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Baltimore a victory over visiting Toronto, enabling the Orioles — yet again — to avoid a sweep.

Baltimore split the two-game set with the Blue Jays — the middle game Tuesday was rained out — and has now gone 105 straight regular-season series of at least two decisions without being swept. That’s tied for the third-longest run in major league history.

The Orioles were swept in last year’s AL Division Series against Texas, but the most recent time it happened in the regular season was from May 13-15, 2022, at Detroit. The streak almost ended exactly two years later, but after defensive replacement Isiah Kiner-Falefa misplayed Jordan Westburg’s grounder for an infield single to start the Baltimore ninth, Rutschman connected off Jordan Romano.

Rutschman’s drive was reviewed — the ball appeared to deflect off a fan who was reaching out above the big wall in right field — but the homer was upheld.

Romano (1-1) blew a save for the first time in seven chances this year.

Westburg led off the first with a homer, but the Orioles didn’t score again until Rutschman went deep for the ninth time this season.

Bo Bichette hit a two-run double in the third inning, and the Toronto bullpen worked through big jams in the seventh and eighth.

MARINERS 4, ROYALS 2: Ty France homered for the second time in three games, Bryan Woo allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings for his first win and Seattle  beat visiting Kansas City.

PHILLIES 10, METS 5: Bryce Harper homered, doubled and drove in three runs, unbeaten Ranger Suárez became the first eight-game winner in the majors and streaking Philadelphia beat visiting New York.

Cristian Pache added two RBI for Philadelphia, which has won three straight against the Mets and 16 of 19 overall to improve baseball’s best record to 31-13.

BREWERS 10, PIRATES 2: William Contreras went 3 for 5 with four RBI and hit one of Milwaukee’s five homers off Martín Pérez in a win at home.

The NL Central-leading Brewers won 2 of 3 from the Pirates before beginning a season-long, nine-game trip Friday at Houston. The Brewers also will visit Miami and Boston before coming back home May 27 for a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs that marks ex-Brewers manager Craig Counsell’s return to Milwaukee.

Gary Sánchez, Sal Frelick, Joey Ortiz and Jackson Chourio also homered off Pérez, who gave up 11 hits and nine runs before leaving with nobody out in the sixth inning.

The Brewers tied a franchise record for homers off a single pitcher in one game. They also hit five home runs off Cincinnati’s Chris Reitsma in 2002 and Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene in 2022.

DIAMONDBACKS 2, REDS 1: Brandon Pfaadt threw seven stellar innings, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a tie-breaking RBI double in the eighth and Arizona won at home.

Pinch-hitter Pavin Smith started the D-backs’ rally with a two-out double to right field. Gurriel followed with another double to right, which wasn’t hit as hard, but still fell just out of the reach of a sliding Jake Fraley.

Paul Sewald retired the Reds in order in the ninth for his second save of the season. Ryan Thompson (1-1) threw a scoreless eighth.

ROCKIES 8, PADRES 0: Austin Gomber allowed two hits in six innings, Brenton Doyle and Jordan Beck homered and visiting Colorado beat San Diego  to complete a three-game sweep with its seventh straight victory.

MARLINS 2, TIGERS 0: Bryan De La Cruz homered, Trevor Rogers pitched five scoreless innings and Miami won at Detroit.

Miami (13-32) has won two straight and 3 of 4 after a four-game losing streak. They shut out the Tigers on Tuesday and Wednesday to win the three-game series.
Four relievers finished, with Tanner Scott pitching the ninth for his fifth save. Two-out singles by Javier Baez and Carson Kelly put runners on the corners, but Riley Greene struck out.

WHITE SOX 2, NATIONALS 0: Korey Lee went 3 for 3 with an RBI, Garrett Crochet tossed five scoreless innings and Chicago topped visiting Washington.