Phillies place Vince Velasquez on DL, promote Ricardo Pinto

MIAMI - The knock on Ricardo Pinto's hotel room door came late Tuesday night. Pinto was already in bed when his triple-A manager and pitching coach came to his room. The pitcher assumed he wanted to see his roommate, catcher Jorge Alfaro. Maybe the coaches wanted to tell Alfaro he was going to take a break on Wednesday.

Instead, they wanted to talk to Pinto. He was headed to the majors. The Phillies promoted Pinto, their minor-league pitcher of the year in 2015, after placing Vince Velasquez on the disabled list Wednesday morning with an elbow injury. Pinto, a righthanded reliever, may not be with the Phillies long. They need to add a starting pitcher for Saturday and Monday.

"It's very exciting to get called up here. It's a dream come true. I'm going to enjoy this moment," Pinto said before allowing four runs in two innings of relief in his major-league debut, a 10-2 loss to the Marlins. "I'm looking at this at a day-by-day thing. Hopefully I can stay here for a long period of time, but I'm just taking it day by day."

Velasquez said Tuesday night that he was not worried about his right flexor strain. He will have an MRI exam on Thursday in Philadelphia to determine how long he will be sidelined. His spot in the rotation falls on Monday in Atlanta.

Pinto was moved earlier this month from the starting rotation at triple-A Lehigh Valley and transitioned into a relief role. The righthander had a 5.53 ERA in 10 games in his first season at triple A. His first two relief appearances in the minors were scoreless. Pinto had a 2.97 ERA in 24 starts between single-A Lakewood and high-A Clearwater when the Phillies named him the 2015 Paul Owens Award winner. He spent all of last season at double A. Pinto pairs his mid-90s fastball with a change-up and a developing slider.

"That change was OK with me," Pinto said about moving to the bullpen. "I was a reliever in Venezuela in winter league. I was a reliever in spring training. I like that job. Ultimately, I just like playing baseball, so whatever the role they want me to be in, I'll be OK with it."

Extra bases

Odubel Herrera returned to the lineup after a two-game benching and went 1 for 4… The Phillies are off Thursday before opening a three-game series at home against the Giants. Jerad Eickhoff will pitch Friday and Jeremy Hellickson will pitch Sunday. Ben Lively is a good candidate to make his major-league debut on Saturday. The Phillies will face lefthander Ty Blach, righthander Johnny Cueto, and lefthander Matt Moore.