Ailing hamstring puts Asche on 15-day DL

PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies third baseman Cody Asche only shrugged on Sunday morning when asked if his injured left hamstring had improved.

It had not.

The Phillies announced a couple of hours later they had placed Asche on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. They recalled right-hander Justin De Fratus from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take his place on the roster because they had been a man short in the bullpen since Friday.

Asche underwent an MRI, which showed tendinitis in the hamstring. He tried jogging before the game against the Dodgers, but without positive results.

"We just decided to be real cautious with him," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "We could stretch this out, but he had some testing this morning and really wasn't much improved. So we just decided to put him on the DL, rather than risk having any long-term issues with him."

Asche had not played since Thursday, so he could be activated as early as June 7. In the short term, it will be Cesar Hernandez or Reid Brignac at third base. Hernandez started his third consecutive game at third on Sunday.

But Triple-A third baseman Maikel Franco would make sense. After a terribly slow start, he is hitting .301 with eight doubles, four home runs, 15 RBIs and an .869 OPS in 26 games since late April.

"It's a possibility," Amaro said. "We'll see whether it's the right thing for us and the right thing for him. Right now, he's got an upper respiratory problem. He's not playing today. We'll kick it around."

Asche said on Saturday he had been playing through discomfort for about six or seven games. The training staff had been treating the hamstring, but it did not respond like it had hoped.

Asche had been playing well offensively this month, hitting .317 with five doubles, three home runs, 12 RBIs and a .956 OPS in 17 games.

"After seeing [the MRI] and seeing how he didn't really respond to the testing he did today, why would we mess around with it?" Amaro said.