[Tommy]

St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - The Chicago Cubs placed shortstop Nomar Garciaparra on the 15-day disabled list with a left groin injury. He is expected to be sidelined two-to-three months after an MRI exam Thursday revealed a torn muscle.

Garciaparra hurt the groin during an at-bat in the third inning of Wednesday's game against St. Louis. After hitting a ground ball to short, he slipped coming out of the batter's box and felt the groin go. Garciaparra then had to be carried off the field.

"It can't be any more painful than it was yesterday," said Garciaparra. "I have an avulsion of the tendon. Basically, I ruptured the tendon off the bone. There's a few tendons that go along your groin area. There's three major muscles and one of the muscles tore away from the bone. That's what the MRI showed."

The 31-year-old Garciaparra went 0-for-2 in the 3-1 victory over the Cardinals and is batting just .157 for the season with no home runs and four runs batted in.

Garciaparra missed half of the 2004 season with various injuries.

Meanwhile, the club recalled infielder Ronny Cedeno from Triple-A Iowa. Cedeno will be looking to make his major league debut after batting .348 with three homers and six RBI in 13 games for Iowa.



04/21 14:25:12 ET



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