KANSAS CITY -- The Royals on Friday placed right-handed reliever Joakim Soria on the 10-day disabled list with a left oblique strain, but manager Ned Yost indicated the recovery time would be far less than it would be from a typical oblique strain.
Yost said an MRI on Thursday revealed a Grade 1 strain -- the lowest grade there can be. Yost said Soria will be completely shut down for about five days, and he could only miss 10-15 days of action.
"He'd been having issues with the low lat area, but we didn't know until the MRI," Yost said. "It's an oblique, but it's not severe."
Soria felt tightness in his lower back/rib cage area after a rough outing on Tuesday in which he gave up four runs late in a 10-8 loss to the A's.
Right-hander Kevin McCarthy was recalled from Triple-A Omaha to take Soria's place on the 25-man roster. McCarthy had just been sent to Omaha following Sunday's game, but he was allowed to be recalled ahead of the 10-day minimum because he is replacing an injured player.
Yost said he likely won't have a set guy to replace Soria in the eighth-inning role.
"I said [right-hander Brandon Maurer] could be the guy," Yost said. "[Left-hander Mike Minor] could be the guy. Shoot, [righty Peter Moylan] could be the guy. It depends on where we are in the game and what situation we're in."
The Soria DL move is retroactive to Wednesday.
McCarthy entered Friday's series opener against the Indians 1-0 with a 1.88 ERA in 19 appearances with the Royals this season.