Rockies’ Antonio Senzatela goes on IL with shoulder inflammation

Antonio Senzatela appears to have escaped a serious shoulder injury, but on Saturday the Rockies placed the right-hander on the 15-day injured list.

The official word from the club is that Senzatela, 3-5 with a 4.95  ERA, has right shoulder inflammation. Senzatela said that his MRI on Saturday “came back clean,” and manager Bud Black indicated that the club is hopeful it’s not a major injury.

Still, losing Senzatela is another blow for the Rockies, whose starting pitching is woefully thin. Senzatela will miss at least two starts and there is a chance he will be out until after the all-star break, July 18-21.

The Rockies are two games into a stretch of 17 consecutive games heading into the break.

Taking Senzatela’s place on the big-league roster is right-hander Ashton Goudeau, who was called up from Triple-A Albuquerque.

Senzatela was scheduled to start against the Dodgers on Wednesday at Los Angeles. It remains to be seen who will take his place in the rotation.

The right-hander departed Colorado’s 9-3 loss to Arizona on Friday night after pitching just two innings. Senzatela’s night began with him giving up a double to Josh Rojas, followed by an Alek Thomas triple. In the second, Carson Kelly blasted Senzatela’s 92 mph fastball over the center-field wall for a solo homer.

“I felt like my shoulder was super tight as soon as I threw the first pitch warming up before the game,” Senzatela said after Friday night’s game. “It was really tight and felt like something wasn’t normal. I was thinking hopefully it would go away after I warmed up, but it never went away. After every pitch, it bothered me a lot. I wanted to pitch more but (the coaching staff) felt it was best for me to come out.”

Marquez improves. Right-hander German Marquez threw a bullpen session Saturday and said the cut on his right thumb is better.

“I had it glued,” said Marquez, who remains on track to make his next start against the Dodgers on Tuesday in Los Angeles.