Blue Jays place SP Marcum on DL

In a series of Saturday moves, the Toronto Blue Jays, the last-place team in the American League East, placed pitcher Shaun Marcum on the DL and recalled RHP Brandon League, only after sending outfielder Kevin Mench back down to Triple-A Syracuse.

The League-Mench swap occurred after Toronto lost its seventh straight game -- and Cito Gaston's second game as manager.

Marcum (5-4 with 86K in 98.2 innings) has the American League's second-best ERA (2.65), trailing only Cliff Lee. He still has a viable shot at making the American League All-Star team.

Mench saw his average drop to .210 after going 0-for-2 in a 6-3 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday. He has no home runs and five RBIs this season for a team that has struggled to score -- Toronto has only 21 runs during its losing streak.

Mench had 89 homers over six seasons with Milwaukee and Texas.

League has appeared in 72 games over the past five seasons for the Blue Jays, going 3-3 with a 4.44 ERA. He was 0-1 in two games during April this season, allowing two runs and five walks in 2 2-3 innings.

To account for Marcum's departure, Adam Lind was recalled to the big club. Gaston said the team wanted Lind to play everyday, Gaston would not say who would take Marcum's spot in the rotation. League has never started a major league game.