Angels reliever Jason Bulger goes on DL

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Angels reliever Jason Bulger, who had nearly halved his earned-run average over the last five weeks with a series of effective outings, has been placed on the disabled list because of a strained right shoulder.

Bulger had held opponents scoreless in 16 of his last 18 outings, lowering his ERA from 7.00 on May 2 to 3.74 following his last appearance Thursday.

‘To have it happen right now obviously is very frustrating,’ said Bulger, who started feeling soreness in the back of his shoulder about a week ago. The right-hander tried to pitch through the discomfort, but it only intensified after he played catch Friday.

The Angels recalled reliever Rafael Rodriguez to take Bulger’s spot on the roster. Bulger suffered what he considered a more serious injury in the same shoulder in 2006. He said his current injury was ‘more of a fatigue, ache-type thing.’

-- Ben Bolch