Hill placed on IL with forearm strain

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill was placed on the 10-day injured list on Thursday with what doctors told him is a strained left flexor tendon and will be sidelined until at least August.

Hill, 39, said he won’t resume throwing for three to four weeks, then will probably need another month of build up toward competition. A free agent after this season, Hill said he expects to pitch again this year.

“No real true timetable,” said Hill. “It’s as positive as it could have been, where there wasn’t anything indicative of damage to the UCL. Probably will take some time to heal. I think I’ll be able to pitch again this season, definitely. When that is, I don’t have that answer.”

The Dodgers also optioned Matt Beaty to Triple-A Oklahoma City and recalled right-handed relievers JT Chargois and Josh Sborz to provide fresh arms for a bullpen that picked up eight innings after Hill left Wednesday night’s start while warming up for the second inning.

For Thursday and possibly Friday, the Dodgers will have a nine-man bullpen and three-man bench.

The club announced Hill’s injury as a left forearm strain. The flexor tendon is not the ligament that requires Tommy John surgery to repair. But it is a key element in the elbow structure that attaches the upper arm to the elbow. It can heal without surgery.

“To lose Rich, the way he’s been pitching, is disheartening any way you look at it,” said manager Dave Roberts.

Hill had Tommy John surgery in 2011. Wednesday’s diagnosis was confirmed by an MRI and he received a PRP injection into the elbow to promote healing. He said the elbow was sore on Wednesday.

Roberts said the club was undecided whether Hill would be replaced in the starting rotation by Julio Urías, Ross Stripling or a candidate from the farm system. Stripling is the most likely, because the club still wants to keep a lid on Urias' innings.

Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May got extended looks in Spring Training, but Gonsolin recently returned from a strained side muscle and hasn’t thrown more than four innings.

“We have some good options,” Roberts said. “We have a little bit of time to assess where we’re at after tonight.”

Urias was inserted to start Thursday night, before Hill’s injury, to give the other starters an extra day of rest.