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Pitcher Bootcheck goes on disabled list

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Times Staff Writer

One day after he gave up a walk-off grand slam, Chris Bootcheck was put on the disabled list Monday when an MRI exam revealed a strained right forearm.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said the reliever’s forearm felt “a little sore” after he pitched two-thirds of an inning Sunday against Oakland and gave up Mark Ellis’ homer in the 12th inning.

The Angels recalled reliever Darren O’Day from triple-A Salt Lake, with the right-hander arriving at Angel Stadium about an hour before the Angels played Tampa Bay.

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Scioscia said O’Day was interchangeable with Bootcheck, the designated long man out of the bullpen who went on the disabled list for the second time this season. Bootcheck sat out the first 19 games of the season because of a strained muscle in his side.

O’Day said he prepared to pitch multiple innings with the Angels by performing what he described as “old-school closing, like two or three innings” per appearance, in the minor leagues.

“If you’re going to go multiple innings, like they want me to, you have to ration your pitches,” said O’Day, who had a 3.43 earned-run average in 16 games with the Angels earlier this season. “You can’t try to strike everybody out. I’ve been doing that and getting better with all my pitches and pitch sequence and being comfortable going from one pitch to the next.”

Bittersweet homecoming

Troy Percival said he was “thoroughly disappointed” that he would not be able to pitch for the Rays against his former team this week.

The closer, who compiled 316 of his 338 saves during a 10-year career with the Angels, is on the disabled list because of a strained left hamstring and will miss the three-game series by one game. He is eligible to rejoin the Rays on Friday when they play host to Florida after an off day.

“I’ve been ready,” said Percival, who will throw a simulated inning today. “The bad part is they don’t have a seven-day DL.”

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Percival last pitched at Angel Stadium in May 2005, earning a save for the Detroit Tigers but tearing a muscle in his right forearm in the process. He pitched in only 14 more games the rest of the season.

He was hoping for a more triumphant return before being sidelined late last month.

“It’s part of the game and I’ve pitched a lot of times here,” Percival said. “It would have been nice to maybe do it again, but maybe we’ll see them in October.”

Short hops

Tim Mead, the Angels’ vice president of communications, called the snafu Sunday in which Channel 13 switched from its Angels TV broadcast to the movie “Smilla’s Sense of Snow” moments before Ellis hit his walk-off homer a rare miscommunication that “we certainly don’t anticipate happening again.” . . . Chone Figgins, recovering from a strained right hamstring, was one for three and scored a run in five innings in the first game of a rehabilitation assignment with Salt Lake. He scored from first on a triple and made a nice barehanded play on a slow bouncer that he charged from his position at third base. . . . Kelvim Escobar, sidelined all season by a shoulder injury, threw 30 pitches in the bullpen and said he was encouraged because “it’s the first time I threw that many pitches off the mound in a long time.” . . . The Angels’ game against the Dodgers on June 29 at Dodger Stadium has been scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com

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