Texas Rangers put reliever Chris Martin on IL and bring 3B Josh Jung back

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Veteran reliever Chris Martin will likely miss at least a month for the Rangers after being put on the injured list because of a left calf strain Monday, the same day Texas brought third baseman Josh Jung back to the majors.

Martin came out of Sunday night’s loss against Detroit after being visited on the mound by an athletic trainer. Manager Bruce Bochy said before Monday’s series opener against the visiting Athletics that Martin will probably be out 4 to 6 weeks.

“It’s going to be a while anytime with that calf, and he did a decent job on it,” Bochy said. “We’re hoping sooner, but that kind of area … calves, they linger.”

It is the second time this season in the return to his hometown team that the 39-year-old Martin (1-6, 2.39 ERA in 39 games) has gone on the 15-day IL. The 6-foot-8 right-hander missed 14 games from May 19-June 4 because of right shoulder fatigue.

“A significant setback for us,” said Chris Young, the team’s president of baseball operations. “Hate it for Chris. He’s having such a good season, and been an important piece for us. … The hope is that we get this thing healthy and get him back for a critical stretch run, late August, September, at which point if we can play well up until that point, it’ll be like getting another player at the trade deadline.”

Texas recalled Jung, right-hander Cole Winn (0-1, 1.59 in 13 games) and infielder-outfielder Michael Helman from Triple-A Round Rock. Infielder Justin Foscue and outfielder Alejandro Osuna were optioned to the minor league team.

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Jung was struggling when the Rangers sent him down to Round Rock on July 2. While he was hitting .237 with eight homers and 35 RBIs in 75 games overall, he had hit only .164 (19 of 116) in the 30 games before getting demoted. He homered Friday and Saturday for the Express, but hit only .205 in his eight games for them.

“The last few games … saw some of the things we were hoping to see, the adjustments he’s making,” Young said. “It’s as much about where we are in the season too. Josh is an important piece of our team. You know, we wanted to get him reset down there and feel like he’s in a better spot mentally. And we’ve got important games here before the (trade) deadline.”

Jung was an All-Star starter as a rookie in 2023, when the Rangers won their only World Series title. He was in the lineup batting eighth Monday night in the series opener against the A’s and rookie left-hander Jacob Lopez.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB