Texas Rangers ace Jacob deGrom (elbow) placed on 15-day IL - ESPN

ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers ace Jacob deGrom was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday with right elbow inflammation after early exits in two of his last three starts.

While his departures from those games were attributed to right wrist soreness and forearm tightness, general manager Chris Young said an MRI showed some inflammation in his elbow.

«There's no need to push him,» Young said. «He came in today and felt OK, which is a positive, but given how important he is to us and our season, we're going to play this very cautiously and see how he responds over the next several days to treatment.»

Young said the Rangers should have a pretty good idea in 7-10 days on what the next steps would be for the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner. DeGrom was coming off two injury-plagued seasons with the New York Mets when he signed a $185 million, five-year contract with Texas last December.

The AL West-leading Rangers recalled right-handed pitcher Yerry Rodríguez from Triple-A Round Rock.

When deGrom left a game in Kansas City after four hitless innings on April 17, the Rangers said the move was precautionary because of wrist soreness.

After the right-hander left his start against the New York Yankees with two outs in the fourth inning Friday night, manager Bruce Bochy said the move was again precautionary, and that deGrom had forearm tightness. Before Saturday's game, and Young's announcement, Bochy said the «same thing cramped up on» deGrom.

Young said he felt the wrist issue was different and under control.

«But was there some compensation from the wrist that maybe irritated this? Perhaps, but I can't say for certain,» said Young, a former big league pitcher.

Texas has won all six games started by deGrom