The St. Louis Cardinals placed Matt Holliday on the 15-day disabled list Saturday afternoon after the outfielder was unable to work through his hamstring injury over the All-Star break.

According to a statement from the team’s official Twitter feed, the move is retroactive to July 12. St Louis has also called up Triple-A standout Brock Peterson to give the team depth during Holliday’s absence:

The 29-year-old Peterson has hit .306 with 22 home runs and 66 RBI for the Memphis Redbirds, the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in the Pacific Coast League. Peterson has not yet made a major league appearance and mostly played first base for Memphis.

Holliday, St. Louis’ stalwart offensive producer since Albert Pujols left for the Los Angeles Angels, was pulled from the Cardinals’ July 11 game against the Chicago Cubs with hamstring tightness. The 33-year-old outfielder pulled up short on his way to first base while running out a groundout in the fourth inning and was immediately taken to the clubhouse for observation.

While there was no significant damage shown during tests, Holliday sat out the team’s final three games before the All-Star break as a precautionary measure. Expected to be back in the lineup for Friday’s opening tilt against the San Diego Padres after taking two sessions of batting practice, the Cardinals star was unable to give it a go.

“I still feel a little bit in there,” Holliday said, via Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. “We’re going to see how [Saturday] goes and go from there.”

Holliday likely tested out the hamstring again Saturday morning in team workouts before St. Louis decided placing him on the disabled list was the best course of action. Because the move was made retroactively, Holliday will be eligible to return from the disabled list on July 27, right before the Cardinals’ critical NL Central clash with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

St. Louis heads into Saturday night’s game at Busch Stadium with a two-game lead over Pittsburgh in the Central. The Cardinals hold a five-game advantage over the third-place Cincinnati Reds, who hold the NL’s final wild-card spot.

Holliday, a six-time All-Star, was hitting .268 with 13 home runs and 47 RBI at the break. Prorated over an entire regular season, those numbers would make for a career-low in batting average and his worst power numbers since his injury-plagued 2011 campaign.

 

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