ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels put ace Jered Weaver on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a lower-back injury, likely forcing last season’s AL Cy Young runner-up to miss at least two starts. ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels put ace Jered Weaver on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a lower-back injury, likely forcing last season’s AL Cy Young runner-up to miss at least two starts.
The Angels recalled touted prospect Garrett Richards from Triple-A Salt Lake to take the rotation spot of Weaver, their most durable and dynamic starter of the past half-decade.
Weaver threw just 12 pitches and faced four batters Monday night against the Yankees before pulling up awkwardly after a pitch to Robinson Cano. He was diagnosed with lower-back spasms and a strained muscle around a disc in his lower spine.
“It’s always disappointing knowing that you’re not going to be out there pitching the next two or three times,” Weaver said. “But I’m a competitor, and I’m going to do whatever work I have to do to get back on that mound. … It was just a fluke thing. I just landed wrong or I came off (the mound) wrong.”
Weaver is 6-1 with a 2.61 ERA this season, tied for second in the AL in victories. The lanky 6-foot-7 right-hander threw a no-hitter against Minnesota on May 2, and had given up just three runs and six hits over 15 innings in his two previous starts before facing New York.
“If we were pushing for a playoff spot, I don’t think we would have gone the disabled list route,” said Weaver, who will be eligible to return June 12. “But we’re early enough in the season that we can rest it and let it get back to 100 percent.”
Phillies’ Halladay out six to eight weeks
NEW YORK — Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay is expected to miss six to eight weeks because of a strained right shoulder, the latest major setback for the five-time NL East champions.
Halladay was put on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday, two days after he was hit hard and pulled from a start in St. Louis after just two innings because of shoulder soreness.
The two-time Cy Young winner will be shut down for a minimum of three weeks, then work toward rejoining the rotation, Phillies assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said.
Halladay is 4-5 with a 3.98 ERA in 11 starts. He has pitched at least 220 innings in each of the past six seasons, and four times led the league in innings.
Ordonez to announce retirement Sunday
DETROIT — Magglio Ordonez has decided to call it a career.
The 38-year-old former Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox outfielder plans to announce his retirement Sunday before Detroit plays the New York Yankees.
The six-time All-Star struggled through 92 games last season with a surgically repaired right ankle, hitting a career-low .255 with five homers and 32 RBIs.
Ordonez was a career .309 hitter with 294 home runs and 1,236 RBIs over 15 seasons.
Ordonez lifted Detroit into the 2006 World Series — the franchise’s first since 1984 — with a series-winning home run against Oakland.
Matsui homers in first game with Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.— Hideki Matsui homered in his second at-bat of the season after the Tampa Bay Rays purchased his contract earlier Tuesday from Triple-A Durham.
The team announced the move before Tuesday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox. Matsui was immediately inserted into manager Joe Maddon’s lineup, batting sixth and starting in left field.
After hitting a fly to left in the second, Matsui connected for a long two-run homer to right during the fourth.
It was Matsui’s first home run since Sept. 19 against Texas while with Oakland.
“You’ll see him in left field, you’ll see him as a DH and you’ll see him pinch hit,” Maddon said. “I’m just really eager to have him here. A very classy kind of a guy.”
