Yankees place Kennedy on DL

May 29, 2008 - 12:21 AM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The New York Yankees on Wednesday lost another of their young pitchers to injury, placing Ian Kennedy on the 15-day disabled list with a strained muscle near his right rib cage, according to a report on mlb.com.

Kennedy suffered the injury in the third inning of his start Tuesday at Baltimore and could not come out for the fourth inning.

The 23-year-old Kennedy joins 21-year-old Phil Hughes, who is out with a broken rib, on the DL.

"I was just trying to take deep breaths, and after a couple of seconds, it went away," Kennedy told the web site. "It allowed me to throw another pitch and I got two outs, so I just tried to get through that inning. I was trying whether to decide to say anything and it was just too painful to go through."

A first-round draft in 2006, Kennedy shot through the New York farm system last season but has struggled in the rotation in 2008, going 0-3 with a 7.41 ERA in nine games - eight starts - this season.

"It's an injury that we feel he won't be able to make his next start," Yankees manager Joe Girardi told mlb.com. "He possibly wouldn't be able to make the start after that."

To replace Kennedy on the roster, the Yankees recalled righthander Chris Britton from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Britton has appeared in two games with New York this season, allowing one run and one hit in 4 2/3 total innings.