Astros put OF Carlos Gomez on disabled list, recall Evan Gattis

Houston Astros outfielder Carlos Gomez, who is hitting just .182 with zero home runs this season, was put on the disabled list Tuesday with a bruised left rib cage, the team announced.

Gomez, who suffered the injury earlier in the month, only has five RBIs in 121 at-bats this season while racking up 46 strikeouts.

"[Gomez] needs to recuperate, and I don't expect it to be lengthy -- a few days off and back to resuming some baseball activity," Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said. "It would be a nice outcome if he were able to come to the team in 15 days, rejuvenated, refreshed and ready to contribute.

"He feels bad for the organization, the fans and for his teammates. He knows he's not playing how he's capable, and [he] is letting everybody down. He's working as hard as he can. Hopefully, this rest and recuperation and getting at-bats in a different environment will help restart the engine and get back to where he was. He's a two-time All-Star. We need this player to be good if we're going to be good this year."

Manager A.J. Hinch said Gomez aggravated the injury while diving back into second base against Boston on Sunday. When Hinch asked Gomez what hurt, Gomez told him, "everything."

"He let us know on the plane on the way to Chicago that he wasn't feeling great," Hinch said Tuesday. "... It's in the best interests of everybody to get him healthy, and he was not going to play in this series, based on the injury. So we felt no need to keep him here as a bench player who wasn't available.

"We're hopeful that getting him back to full health will start the process of his being Carlos Gomez again."

The Astros recalled catcher Evan Gattis from Double-A Corpus Christi and also called up Triple-A prospect Colin Moran, who could help the team at third base with Marwin Gonzalez suffering from a sore foot.

Gattis hit just .203 with one home run and seven RBIs in 20 games for the Astros this season.

Right-hander Asher Wojciechowski was designated for assignment.

Last-place Houston added 5-foot-6 infielder Tony Kemp on Monday, when catcher Erik Kratz was designated for assignment. Astros manager A.J. Hinch said he intends to start Moran and Kemp on Wednesday night.

"It was starting to become time to look at the internal options that we have from the minor leagues," Hinch said. "They're both different. They're both going to play different roles here. We're looking to jump-start our offense for a little bit more consistency. We've had a couple good series in a row offensively where we've been a little bit more dynamic."

ESPN's Christina Kahrl and The Associated Press contributed to this report.