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SAN DIEGO — The Padres will be without right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. at least into early July and perhaps until after the All-Star break after he was placed on the injured list due to a stress reaction in his right leg.
Starting pitcher Yu Darvish, who was scheduled to return from a left groin strain Tuesday, will be out longer after experiencing discomfort in his right (throwing) elbow.
Jhony Brito was optioned to Triple-A to begin the transition to being a starting pitcher, and outfielder Jose Azócar was optioned to Triple-A to get at-bats.
Adam Mazur was recalled and will start Tuesday's game in place of Darvish. Infielder Eguy Rosario was recalled and might play some outfield. Outfielder Bryce Johnson had his contract purchased from Triple-A and is starting Monday's game against the Nationals in right field.
Tatis has been playing through what the team believed was a quad strain. It did not affect him batting, as he actually had his best stretch of games recently (.354 average with a 1.003 OPS and six home runs in his past 25 starts).
But as he was increasingly bothered when running, imaging revealed what manager Mike Shildt termed a "slight" stress reaction in his right femur.
"He could still play, because he's been playing with it," Shildt said Monday afternoon. "But it's something that it's not going to get better unless we rest it."
Shildt said there is no official timetable. He likely will not return immediately when his 10 days is up and could be out until after the All-Star break. Normal healing for the injury, which can also be referred to as a fracture that occurs when there is too much stress put on a bone, is at least six weeks.
The Tatis injury is what allows Mazur to be recalled after being optioned Friday. A player has to stay in the minors 10 days after being optioned unless he is recalled to replace a player going on the IL.
Mazur will essentially just continue in the role he was in. he made his major league debut June 4, replacing Darvish. The right-hander has a 7.27 ERA in four starts.
Shildt described Darvish's issue as "inflammation." Darvish was having the elbow examined and was not at Petco Park on Monday.
"Do we think it's serious? We don't," Shildt said. "As with most of these things early on, there's optimism. But it's not blind. So we'll just continue to evaluate it. But we don't think it's going to be too much longer."
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