Indians place All-Star OF Grady Sizemore on disabled list, call up Gimenez from Triple-A

Indians place All-Star OF Grady Sizemore on DL

CLEVELAND — The Indians have placed All-Star outfielder Grady Sizemore on the 15-day disabled list with left elbow inflammation and called up utilityman Chris Gimenez from Triple-A Columbus.

The Indians announced the moves before Sunday’s 5-4 home win over the New York Yankees.

Sizemore had struggled at the plate and not played much in the field recently because of the injury. He went 1 for 4, hitting his team-leading ninth homer Saturday night against the Yankees, but is hitting only .223 overall.

“We couldn’t take it any further,” said manager Eric Wedge, who had tried to keep Sizemore’s normally productive bat in the lineup by using him as a designated hitter.

The two-time Gold Glove center field had played in the field only three times in his past 12 appearances, all in an interleague series in Cincinnati.

“The first couple of days, it looked like Grady was getting better, then it leveled off. We didn’t want to push it and hurt it even more,” Wedge said.

Wedge said an MRI exam showed no structural damage and that Sizemore would not swing a bat or do any throwing for two weeks.

A year ago, Sizemore had career-highs of 33 homers, 90 RBIs and 38 stolen bases.

Gimenez can catch, and was needed as a backup to Kelly Shoppach, who started in place of Victor Martinez.

Martinez left Saturday’s game with a left knee contusion.