BALTIMORE -- Clay Buchholz felt the fingernail on the middle finger of his right hand tear when he threw a two-seamer on his second warmup pitch of the second inning in his start Monday night in Minnesota. The torn nail hurt his performance in that game, and he landed on the 15-day DL yesterday as much to help fortify the depleted outfield corps as anything.

Buchholz, who is 2-3 with a 5.53 earned-run average, said the Sox told him they didn't want him to alter any mechanics to compensate for the torn nail and possibly hurt his elbow or shoulder.

Josh Beckett will slide into Buchholz's spot in the rotation on Sunday. Boston will need another starter Tuesday, and that pitcher could be Bartolo Colon if he is able to stretch out his innings and pitch count in his next start with Pawtucket, today in Buffalo.

-STEVEN KRASNER