DENVER (AP) -The Colorado Rockies placed shortstop Clint Barmes and right fielder Brad Hawpe on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday and recalled outfielder Seth Smith and infielder Ian Stewart from Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Smith was inserted into the lineup in right field for Saturday’s game against the New York Mets.
Barmes sprained his right knee when New York’s Jose Reyes slid into him at second base during the 10th inning of the Rockies 6-5, 13-inning win Friday night. Barmes left after going 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
Barmes leads the Rockies with a .343 average. Since taking over for Troy Tulowitzki, who is out until the All-Star break with a torn left quadriceps, Barmes has hit .400 with three homers and 10 RBIs. He has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games.
This is the second time Barmes has been sidelined by an injury. As a rookie in 2005, he broken his left collarbone on June 1 and missed 78 games.
“I do feel for him,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “What he can control right now is his emotions and how he puts himself in place to find his way back. He’s a tough kid.”
The loss of Barmes meant the Rockies are down to their third shortstop. Omar Quintanilla was in the lineup for Saturday’s game, and Hurdle said that rookie Jonathan Herrera, who was in the lineup Saturday at second, could play some shortstop, too.
“We’re in a position now, losing two shortstops, I’m not looking for perfect matchups,” Hurdle said.
Hawpe, whose move to the DL is retroactive to Wednesday, has been bothered by a sore right hamstring for three days. He hasn’t played since Tuesday, and the Rockies had hoped he would feel better by this weekend.
“We tried to give this every opportunity to get him in play over the weekend,” Hurdle said. “We put him through a series of tests. In a controlled environment there’s been some incremental improvement, but baseball’s not played in a controlled environment.
“He’s not close. We felt he might be close about three or four days from now. That puts him halfway home being on the DL so we just go retroactive to the last game he played and he goes from there.”
Hurdle said Stewart, who was the Pacific Coast League player of the week for two straight weeks this month, could spell Garrett Atkins at third or Todd Helton at first. He may also see some time in the outfield.
“This would give us an option when Todd needs a day for Garrett to go to first, or if Garrett needs a day he can play third,” Hurdle said. “He played second base in spring training.”
Stewart, who was batting .281 with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox this year, said he is open to playing different positions.
“If I had a good offseason under my belt to work on playing the outfield or another position, I don’t think I’d have any problem playing another position,” he said.
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