A strained left oblique landed Chris Hatcher among the parade of Dodgers relievers on the disabled list Wednesday along with Joel Peralta, Brandon League, Pedro Baez and Paco Rodriguez, who are all currently on rehabilitation assignments in the minor leagues.

The good news for the Dodgers is that outfielder Scott Van Slyke returned Wednesday from back inflammation that shelved him 18 games to replace Hatcher on the roster and immediately earn a spot in the lineup.

Hatcher could benefit from a breather considering his 1-4 record and 6.38 ERA in 27 appearances this season. The 30-year-old suffered a mild oblique strain during the ⅔ of an inning he pitched in Sunday’s 14-inning win over the Padres.

“I didn’t feel it on any one pitch,” Hatcher said. “The oblique is one of those things where, if it doesn’t get rest, it’s probably
going to get worse.”

The strain was mild enough that Hatcher wanted to pitch on Tuesday after Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was told of the injury on Monday in Texas.

“At that point they were kind of hoping it would subside,” Mattingly said. “(Tuesday) just kind of asking him how he felt and seeing his face, it didn’t look real good. So I kind of had a feeling (Wednesday) wasn’t going to be a very good result.”

Due to the unpredictability of oblique injuries, Mattingly said he was unsure of when Hatcher would begin throwing again.

“Any of that would be a guess,” he said. “We thought Carl (Crawford) was going to be 21 to 30 (days) and now we’re heading toward 60.”

Van Slyke adds a capable bat to a Dodgers lineup that produced eight runs combined in the four games prior to Wednesday.
The left fielder was batting .264 with two home runs and 14 RBIs when he was injured May 30. In three rehab appearances with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, Van Slyke went 4-for-11.

In his final rehab game on Monday, he was 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored. Van Slyke was one of four Dodgers rehabbing in that game along with Rodriguez, Peralta and League.