Pennington lands on DL with hamstring strain

SEATTLE — The team bus rolled into the Angels’ hotel in downtown Seattle around 4 a.m. PT on Friday, with five hours separating a sixth consecutive loss and two additional players tending to injuries. When the group reconvened at Safeco Field later that afternoon, their utility infielder was placed on the disabled list, their leadoff hitter was absent from the lineup, and a man with one extra-base hit was batting cleanup.

It’s been that kind of week — that kind of month — for the Angels.

Cliff Pennington, basically the everyday shortstop while Andrelton Simmons recovers from a surgically repaired left thumb, became the seventh player on the current DL. Pennington has a strain in his left hamstring, one he hopes to fully recover from in a couple of weeks. Third baseman Yunel Escobar was nursing a jammed right thumb, which forced him to exit Thursday’s game in the eighth inning, and was told to take a day to recover.

The Angels are hopeful that Escobar can return to the lineup by Saturday. In the meantime, Jefry Marte, a power-hitting corner infielder, was called up from Triple-A to fill Escobar’s spot at third base. Middle infielder Gregorio Petit was also called up to back up Brendan Ryan, who will probably get most of the playing time at shortstop …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com