Zach Eflin believes he'll miss just 1 start; Victor Arano down for 3 months

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LOS ANGELES — Zach Eflin was placed on the injured list Friday, but he does not expect to be there long.

The right-hander experienced back stiffness upon waking Wednesday morning. He also experienced some back spasms. Though he was feeling better Friday, he was not 100 percent. So the team scratched him from his scheduled start against the Dodgers on Saturday and placed him on the 10-day IL. The assignment is backdated three days so he could be back next Friday night in Philadelphia to face the Cincinnati Reds.

“I haven’t heard the schedule, but I only plan on missing one start,” Eflin said.

Lefty Cole Irvin was added from Triple A to take Eflin’s roster spot. He lines up to make Saturday night’s start, though manager Gabe Kapler did not immediately commit to that. Kapler said he wanted to see how things went with the bullpen Friday night before he named his Saturday night starter. Vince Velasquez was available out of the bullpen Friday night. There was an outside chance he could make Saturday night’s start, depending on what happened Friday night.

Eflin had no worries that his back injury was serious. He said it was already responding to treatment and he was able to play catch on Friday.

“I just slept in a weird position and it kind of pinched something back there between my ribs and my hip bone or something,” Eflin said. “I’m looking forward to it going away.”

In other injury news, reliever Victor Arano visited with teammates before Friday night’s game. He had arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur in his right elbow earlier this week. Arano said he would be down for three months so his season could be over.

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