In an unexpected move, Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier avoided the 15-day disabled list. His strained left oblique, suffered in Wednesday's loss to the San Francisco Giants, showed no swelling and is listed as day-to-day. Ethier hurt himself on a check swing in the first inning against Tim Lincecum, and left the game in the middle of the first inning.
"Yesterday we kind of assumed that we would have a DL situation," said manager Don Mattingly. "The docs looked at it and didn't see any swelling. It couldn't be any better."
Ethier is hitting .291/.357/.491 with 23 doubles, 11 home runs, and 55 RBI in 75 games this season for the Dodgers, who have been without Matt Kemp for 40 of their last 42 games and he isn't expected back until after the All-Star break. The Dodgers were just swept in San Francisco without scoring a run in three games and they have scored 15 runs in their last 10 games.
The Dodgers recalled outfielder Scott Van Slyke from Triple A Albuquerque on Thursday, but not to replace Ethier. Instead, infielder Ivan De Jesus was optioned to Triple A. Van Slyke was hitting .326/.404/.576 with 14 doubles and 10 home runs in 48 games in Triple A this year, and hit .194/.219/.355 earlier this season in 17 games with the Dodgers.
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