Smith (hip) covered five innings and gave up four runs on five hits and a walk while striking out eight Sunday in his rehab start for Double-A Jacksonville.

EDGE Analysis

Smith, who was making his second rehab appearance for the affiliate, served up two long balls but was otherwise effective while pushing up his pitch count to 83. The lefty looks ready to rejoin the big-league rotation and could be activated from the 10-day injured list to start either Saturday or Sunday in Atlanta. If that's the case, Smith would likely deny Zac Gallen a second start of the week, though Smith wouldn't necessarily push the rookie out of the rotation. One of Gallen, Elieser Hernandez and Jordan Yamamoto will likely lose his starting job coming out of the All-Star break, however, as manager Don Mattingly said Sunday that a six-man rotation "is not really [an option]," per Joe Frisaro of MLB.com.