Chavez placed on DL with knee, hip issues

PHOENIX -- The D-backs will be without one of their most consistent hitters for at least the next two weeks as the club placed veteran third baseman Eric Chavez on the 15-day disabled list Sunday, retroactive to Saturday, with a sore left knee and stiff right hip.

"He's a little older, as you know, and I try to play him as much as I can while being smart about it," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. "But he's got multiple things going on and you can't play short, it's going to be a little while."

In his 16th Major League season, Chavez was hitting .299 with 40 RBIs and nine homers in 194 at-bats this season. He typically served in the cleanup spot as lineup protection for Paul Goldschmidt.

Chavez had already been dealing with the knee discomfort when the hip flared up Friday. Gibson took the third baseman out of the game as a defensive replacement without knowing about the injury before eventually finding out when the team trainer approached him in the clubhouse afterward.

"He said he was pretty sore," Gibson said. "It really stiffened up on him."

In the 35-year-old's place, the D-backs promoted Matt Davidson from Triple-A Reno. This marks Chavez's second time on the DL this season as he also missed most of June with an oblique injury.