Cardinals put ace Carlos Martinez on 10-day DL with lat strain

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Carlos Martinez. (Jeffrey Phelps/AP)

SAN DIEGO — The St. Louis Cardinals have put ace Carlos Martinez on the 10-day disabled list because of a strained lat.

Martinez leads the National League with a 1.62 ERA.

Martinez pitched five innings in a loss to Minnesota on Tuesday, his first defeat in seven starts since opening day. The right-hander is 3-2 overall.

The Cardinals made the move Thursday, retroactive by a day.

Right-hander Mike Mayers was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. He was optioned on Monday after earning a win with three innings of relief in a 14-inning game against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night. Mayers is 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA and one save in five relief appearances for the Cardinals.

Martinez tops the Cardinals with 50 innings and 47 strikeouts.

St. Louis plays at San Diego on Thursday night.
[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.