KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Houston Astros left-hander Framber Valdez was placed on the 15-day injured list Tuesday because of elbow soreness as manager Joe Espada said he hoped the pitcher will miss only a couple of starts.

"He's going to need some time to recover," Espada said before the Astros played Kansas City. "We'll watch the inflammation to see how quickly that comes down. Hopefully it could just be maybe two starts and we'll get him back on the mound."

Valdez was scratched from his scheduled start in the series opener, returned to Houston on Monday night and was diagnosed with inflammation on top of the elbow.

"I didn't get any news on the ligament, just inflammation in that elbow," Espada said. "We'll see where he's at in a day or two. We can get him back throwing and then we can assess how quickly we can get him back going. I think that's pretty decent news."

Houston selected the contract of right-hander Wander Suero from Triple-A Sugar Land and recalled left-hander Parker Mushinski from the Space Cowboys. Houston optioned right-hander Blair Henley to Sugar Land and transferred right-hander Oliver Ortega to the 60-day injured list.