AL NOTEBOOK

ATHLETICS: Chad Gaudin (3-2, 3.75 ERA) is moving from Oakland’s rotation to the bullpen, where he’s spent most of his previous five major league seasons. The A’s need to make room for the return of right-handed starter Rich Harden, who is scheduled to come off the 15-day disabled list to start Sunday’s series finale at Texas.

BLUE JAYS: One night after losing shortstops David Eckstein (right hip) and John McDonald (right ankle) to injury, Toronto purchased the contract of infielder Jorge Velandia from Class AAA Syracuse.

Eckstein, who injured his hip diving for a bloop single in shallow left, had an MRI Wednesday, revealing no major damage to his hip. One inning after coming on to replace Eckstein, McDonald went down clutching his ankle after catching a cleat on the turf as he went down to backhand a grounder.

RED SOX: Tim Wakefield and Mike Timlin had no idea they were making history Tuesday night. For the first time in baseball’s modern era, two pitchers over 40 combined on a shutout. Wakefield gave up just two hits in eight innings and Timlin got the final three outs of Boston’s 5-0 victory over the Tigers. That was the only time that’s happened since 1900, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

TWINS: Carlos Gomez became the first Minnesota Twins player to hit for the cycle in nearly 22 years when he accomplished the feat against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night. Gomez homered off Mark Buehrle on the game’s third pitch. He added an RBI triple in the fifth, doubled in a run in the sixth and completed the cycle with an infield single in the ninth. That made Gomez the eighth Minnesota player to hit for the cycle and the first since Kirby Puckett on Aug. 1, 1986 against Oakland.

YANKEES: Alex Rodriguez (strained right quadriceps), Jorge Posada (right rotator cuff tendinitis) and Phil Hughes (stress fracture, rib) are expected to travel to the New York Yankees’ spring-training facility in Florida today to continue rehabbing their injuries.