Carlos Villanueva allowed a pair of solo homers but otherwise held the Rangers scoreless over seven innings in Thursday's 6-2 win.

He gave up a pair of singles, walked one and struck out six, needing just 87 pitches to cover the seven frames. The Cubs signed Villanueva over the winter because of his versatility, and the righty has shown early on that he's plenty capable of starting, putting up a 1.29 ERA and 0.81 WHIP through three outings. He'll have a tough challenge next week in Cincinnati.

Wednesday night's game between the Rangers and Cubs has been postponed due to rain at Wrigley Field.

The weather was ugly all day in Chicago and got even worse as game time approached. No makeup date has been announced. Carlos Villanueva was scheduled to start for the Cubs and Justin Grimm was on tap for the Rangers.

Carlos Villanueva was denied a win by the Cubs bullpen after shutting out the Giants for 7 1/3 innings on Friday.

Villanueva left with a 5-1 lead his first time out last week, only to have that blown. Today, he watched as his 2-0 lead was wiped away. As a result, he's still without a record despite a 0.64 ERA. Obviously, Villanueva isn't this good. However, he should be a perfectly useful NL-only pitcher.

Carlos Villanueva limited the Braves to one earned run over 6 2/3 innings Saturday in a no-decision.

Villanueva certainly did his part, striking out six batters before exiting with the Cubs up by four. But setup man Kyuji Fujikawa gave up three runs in the eighth inning and closer Carlos Marmol blew the save when he allowed two runs in the ninth. Villanueva will hope for better support next time out against the Giants.

Carlos Villanueva gave up three runs (one earned) over five innings against the Mariners on Thursday.

Villanueva walked two, struck out three and gave up a home run. The 29-year-old wraps up the spring with a 3.57 ERA in six starts and will begin the season with a rotation spot while the Cubs wait for Matt Garza (lat) and Scott Baker (elbow) to get healthy.

Carlos Villanueva delivered his best start of the spring Friday, blanking the Brewers for six innings.

That's more like it. Villanueva had allowed eight runs over 11 2/3 innings coming into Friday's action, but he's rounding into shape at just the right time. With Matt Garza (lat) and Scott Baker (elbow) slated to miss the early part of the season, Villanueva could carry sneaky value in NL-only and deeper mixed leagues.

Carlos Villanueva gave up two runs on six hits over four innings in a loss to the White Sox Thursday.

He whiffed three and served up a home run to Paul Konerko. Villanueva has a 5.87 ERA over his first three spring appearances, but he's still expected to be part of the Cubs' rotation at the start of the season with Matt Garza and Scott Baker out.

Carlos Villanueva will be part of the Cubs' rotation to start the season.

Wood was already pretty much penciled in with Scott Baker still working his way back from Tommy John surgery, and Villanueva has a spot now with Matt Garza slated to miss the first month of the season. Both pitchers have some appeal in single-league formats.

Carlos Villanueva allowed one earned run in four innings Saturday afternoon against the Giants.

Villanueva surrendered four hits -- including a solo home run -- but he fanned two and induced three groundouts. The 29-year-old right-hander signed a two-year, $10 million free agent contract with the Cubs this offseason and will open the 2013 campaign as their fifth starter.

Cubs signed RHP Carlos Villanueva to a two-year, $10 million contract.

The deal was announced in mid-December, but it took awhile to finalize the details. Villanueva brings another high-strikeout arm to the improved Cubs rotation, and makes for a very intriguing target in the later rounds of fantasy drafts.

Cubs signed RHP Carlos Villanueva to a two-year, $10 million contract.

Villanueva has registered a decent 4.11 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 7.4 K/9 over his last 232 1/3 innings, operating as both a starter and a reliever for the Blue Jays. He'll be used primarily out of the rotation in Chicago and could carry some value in deeper mixed fantasy leagues.

CBS Sports' Jon Heyman reports that the Cubs have agreed to a deal with Carlos Villanueva.

Terms of the deal are not yet known, but, assuming it's not too out of line, it's another sneaky addition to the rotation by the Cubs. Villanueva was shifted back and forth from starter to reliever the last two seasons by the Blue Jays, but he pitched really well out of the rotation in 2012 before a couple late-season blowups inflated his ERA. All told, he put up a 4.16 ERA and 112/46 K/BB ratio over 125 1/3 innings this past season.

Carlos Villanueva has told Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulous that he still wants to start but would be more willing to compete for a rotation job with them.

Villanueva said last month that he wanted any interested team to guarantee him 30 starts next season, which is something the Blue Jays wouldn't be able to do following their acquisition of Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson. He could come to camp to compete with J.A. Happ for the final job in the rotation, but the reality is that he's likely to wind up elsewhere.

Free agent Carlos Villanueva wants any interested team to guarantee him 30 starts next season.

Villanueva has been shuffled in and out of the rotation most of his career, but he pitched well enough as a starter in 2012 that some team should be willing to grant him his request. It could be the Blue Jays, as general manager Alex Anthopoulous said he'd have no problem relying on the righty for 30 starts. "Absolutely, I've never doubted Carlos," Anthopoulous said.

Carlos Villanueva will not start Tuesday against the Twins.

No word on the reason for the change. The Blue Jays have been worried that Villanueva was wearing down, so they might have decided to shut him down for the year. Assuming that's the case, he'll head into free agency with a 4.16 ERA and 112/46 K/BB ratio over 125 1/3 innings. Chad Jenkins will start in his place Tuesday.

Carlos Villanueva got lit up in Wednesday's 12-2 loss to the Orioles, allowing six runs on seven hits - four of which left the ballpark - in 4 2/3 innings of work.

Villanueva struck out seven and walked one in falling to 7-7. Villanueva has now allowed at least six runs in back-to-back starts, and is sporting an 8.10 ERA through 26 2/3 September innings. Not exactly the best way to head into the open market for the impending free agent. Villanueva's final start should come on Monday against the Twins.

Blue Jays manager John Farrell said Carlos Villanueva (fatigue) is "back to normal" and on track to start Wednesday.

Villanueva was rocked in his last outing, and the Jays are worried he might be wearing down. But, evidently the team isn't overly concerned. "He's back to normal," Farrell said. "He is ready to start [Wednesday] and on tap for that. But as we've stated other times, too, this time of year guys are dealing with some general fatigue and that's no different in this case."

Blue Jays manager John Farrell said the team will keep an eye on Carlos Villanueva during his remaining starts for signs of weakness or fatigue.

Villanueva lacked zip on his fastball in his last outing and was lit up by the Rays for seven runs over 2 1/3 innings. The righty has made a career-high 15 starts this season and might be wearing down. "He feels a little bit more soreness than from his previous starts, which is not totally unexpected at this time of the year," said Farrell. "If that soreness persists, we'll take any measure to identify if there's anything going on there physically."

Carlos Villanueva was destroyed in Friday's loss to the Rays, surrendering seven runs on eight hits in just 2 1/3 innings of work.

Villanueva also issued two walks while uncharacteristically recording zero strikeouts in the abbreviated outing. Ben Zobrist and Jose Molina each blasted homers in the thrashing. Villanueva seems to be tiring down the stretch, and has posted a 7.36 ERA and 1.5 WHIP over his last four starts. He'll look to get back on track when he takes on the Orioles in Baltimore on Wednesday.

Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun reports that the Royals have interest in pending free agent Carlos Villanueva and have had scouts at some of his starts of late.

"Big park to pitch in," said Villanueva when asked about the Royals' potential interest. Villanueva has been used as a starter and a reliever during his career, but Kansas City desperately needs starting pitching and would almost surely want the righty in that role. He's put up a 3.49 ERA and 79/22 K/BB ratio in 85 innings over 14 starts this year.