The Toronto Blue Jays have placed outfielder Jose Bautista on the disabled list with a bruise on his hip bone, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.
The injury occurred when Bautista made a sliding catch. Toronto initially had removed Bautista early from the first game of Tuesday's double-header against the Yankees and listed him as "game-to-game." However, the injury was deemed bad enough that the Blue Jays placed him on the DL shortly after the second game of the double-header.
Bautista expects to return before the end of the season. The Blue Jays don't need to rush him as they are in last place in the AL East and are 12 games below .500. Over 117 games this season, Bautista has hit .259/.357/.499 with 28 home runs.
The Blue Jays are also missing starting outfielders Melky Cabrera and Colby Rasmus, both suffering from their own injuries. Thus, Toronto is running out backups at all three outfield positions for the time being.
More from SB Nation MLB:
• Ballgirl and infielder fight for foul ball
• MLB could release A-Rod files
• Cleveland grants Dice-K his unconditional release