Schwimer replaces injured Stutes in Phillies bullpen

PHOENIX - Mike Stutes kept pitching through the soreness in his shoulder because he did not want to admit a problem. He finally said something near the end of spring training and rest was prescribed. He still made the team, but the pain returned.

"Something felt a little funky," Stutes said. "It wasn't killing me. It's just off."

So the 25-year-old righthander became the sixth Phillies player to go on the disabled list. He was deactivated after Tuesday's 8-5 win over Arizona. Righthander Michael Schwimer was recalled to replace him.

Stutes' shoulder problems are concerning. He said he's unsure whether the two periods of soreness are related, but it's likely considering he admitted to pitching through it during the regular season to maintain his spot.

He has never had a shoulder injury before.

"It just came back," Stutes said. "As a player, you never want to admit anything is wrong. It's frustrating in that sense."

The Phillies will examine Stutes with an MRI once the team returns home Thursday. That should provide more insight.

Stutes' fastball averaged 94 m.p.h. in 2011. Early in 2012, it's only down to 93 m.p.h. He had a 6.35 ERA in 52/3 innings. Most of the damage came in his last outing, last Saturday against San Diego, when he surrendered three runs in an inning.

The shoulder problem was most noticeable, Stutes said, during his appearance April 17 against San Francisco.

Schwimer, 26, spent 43 days with the Phillies in 2011 and appeared in 12 games. He pitched a scoreless ninth in Wednesday's 7-2 win.

He has been decent at triple-A Lehigh Valley in the early part of 2012 with a 1.04 ERA in 82/3 innings.

"The numbers, they were good, but nine innings isn't a sample size that can qualify as throwing it real well or anything like that," Schwimer said. "In terms of executing the pitches I want to execute, much, much better than I was last year. I'm very happy with how my game's going right now."

The Phillies chose Schwimer over Phillippe Aumont and Jake Diekman, two other IronPigs relievers on the 40-man roster.

Manager Charlie Manuel benched Jimmy Rollins for the first time in 2012 and started Freddy Galvis at shortstop, with Pete Orr at second base. That double-play tandem was a combined 0 for 7 at the plate Wednesday.

Rollins entered the game for defense in the eighth. He is 3 for his last 33. Orr has more extra-base hits (four) than Rollins (three) despite 55 fewer at-bats.

With the day off Thursday, Manuel said he wanted to sit Rollins. His replacement in the three-hole fared no better - Shane Victorino was 0 for 5. No National League team has a worse OPS from its No. 3 hitters than the Phillies (.558). They are tied for the fewest RBIs from that spot in all of baseball.

If the Phillies stay in rotation and start Kyle Kendrick on Saturday, that could enable Cliff Lee to pitch the opener of the Washington series May 4. That's the day Lee (strained left side) is eligible to return from the disabled list. Lee has played catch recently with less pain. . . . Ty Wigginton singled in the sixth to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Wigginton is the team's leader in on-base percentage (.365) through 19 games. . . . Righthanded pitching prospect Justin De Fratus was shut down again with elbow trouble. The team said De Fratus would not throw for at least four weeks because of a flexor pronator strain. He missed most of spring training with elbow soreness but had begun an official rehab assignment with a scoreless inning at single-A Clearwater on Sunday.