Hip Makes McPherson Latest on Disabled List

Third baseman Dallas McPherson was put on the 15-day disabled list Friday night because of inflammation in his left hip, an injury the rookie suffered while fielding a grounder to the hole in Thursday night’s 10-2 loss to the Mariners.

An MRI test Friday afternoon revealed the condition, and the Angels announced the move during the fourth inning Friday night. Utility player Zach Sorensen will be recalled from triple-A Salt Lake today, and the team will make a subsequent move -- most likely putting Kelvim Escobar on the 60-day DL -- to make room for Sorensen on the 40-man roster.

McPherson, who sat out the first two weeks of the season while recovering from a herniated disk in his lower back, hurt himself in the second inning Thursday after Seattle’s Richie Sexson, with runners on first and second, hit a high chopper to McPherson’s left. The ball went off his glove for an error.

McPherson, who is batting .244 with eight home runs and 26 runs batted in, becomes the eighth Angel front-line player to have gone on the DL this season, joining Escobar, Vladimir Guerrero, Francisco Rodriguez, Orlando Cabrera, Steve Finley, Adam Kennedy and Bengie Molina.

With McPherson out, utility player Chone Figgins probably will get the bulk of the playing time at third, with Jeff DaVanon and Juan Rivera replacing Figgins in center field until Finley returns next week.

Sorensen, a 28-year-old who has only 37 major league at-bats, was batting .322 with one home run, 28 RBIs and a .380 on-base percentage at Salt Lake, where he played shortstop, second base, first base and the outfield.

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Escobar extended his right arm and flexed his right biceps Friday, feeling no discomfort in the elbow where a bone spur was surgically shaved June 29.

“For a guy who just had surgery to be able to move my arm like that without pain is amazing,” Escobar said. “There’s no swelling. It looks normal.”

Escobar, who admitted he was “not 100%” in any of his seven starts this season, has begun range-of-motion exercises and will begin strengthening exercises shortly. Barring any setbacks, the right-hander should return by early September.

“I’ll be fresh,” Escobar said. “I might be pitching every two days.”

Don’t count on it. Though Escobar said he’d be willing to pitch out of the bullpen until he regains his stamina -- much like Boston’s Curt Schilling -- Manager Mike Scioscia said the chances of Escobar pitching in relief were “extremely remote.”

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After serving an eight-day suspension, in which he watched games from his apartment and inside various parts of Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and Angel Stadium, reliever Brendan Donnelly, who was caught with pine tar on his glove June 14, will return to the active roster tonight.

“It hasn’t been easy -- I’ve been lost,” Donnelly said of his suspension. “I’m a routine guy, and everything has been out of whack. Come game time, I don’t know what to do with myself.”