The Texas Rangers placed veteran right-hander Max Scherzer on the 15-day injured list Friday with fatigue in his throwing shoulder.
The move comes retroactive to Wednesday, one day after Scherzer threw 68 pitches and allowed three runs over four innings in the Rangers’ 8-1 road loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Scherzer, who turned 40 last Saturday, missed the first 2 1/2 months of the season while recovering from back surgery. He is 2-4 with a 3.89 ERA over eight starts (39 1/3 total innings) for Texas since returning on June 23.
A 17-year veteran, Scherzer is 216-112 with a 3.16 career ERA and has collected three Cy Young Awards, eight All-Star appearances and two World Series titles.
The defending champion Rangers enter Friday 52-57 and sit 4 1/2 games out of first place in the American League West.
In a corresponding move on Friday, Texas promoted left-hander Walter Pennington from Triple-A Round Rock.
The Rangers acquired Pennington on Monday from the Royals in a trade that sent right-hander Michael Lorenzen to Kansas City.
Pennington, 26, has gone 6-3 with two saves and a 2.20 ERA across 38 appearances (two starts) this season in the minor leagues. He threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings in his Round Rock debut on Thursday.
Over three-plus minor league seasons, Pennington is 22-11 with a 3.52 ERA in 148 outings (four starts), recording 257 strikeouts across 243 innings.
Pennington has made one major league appearance, striking out one in two-thirds of an inning in relief at the Colorado Rockies on July 5.
