St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny talks to Matt Carpenter after swinging at a pitch and injuring his sdie in the third inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 6, 2016. Carpenter left the game with an apparent injury. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny talks to Matt Carpenter after swinging at a pitch and injuring his sdie in the third inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 6, 2016. Carpenter left the game with an apparent injury. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The St. Louis Cardinals have placed All-Star infielder Matt Carpenter (right oblique strain) on the 15-day disabled list and purchased the contract of catcher Michael McKenry from Memphis (AAA).

Carpenter was just named to his third National League All-Star team, but became the third St. Louis player in three days (Brandon Moss and Brayan Pena) to be placed on the DL.   Carpenter ranks among National League leaders in several offensive categories, including both on-base (.420) pct. and slugging (.568) pct.  He was batting .298 with a team-high 25 doubles, 56 runs scored and 53 RBI to go along with his 14 home runs.

Replacing Carpenter at the All-Star game will be rookie shortstop Aledmys Diaz.  The shortstop was notified by manager Mike Matheny prior to today’s game against the Pirates.  Diaz leads all everyday starters on the Cardinals roster with a .319 average.

McKenry, 31, was signed by the Cardinals as a minor league free agent on May 27 after beginning the 2016 season with the Texas Rangers Triple-A Round Rock club.  Since joining Memphis, he hit.341 (28-for-82) in 24 games with five home runs and 20 RBI.  He helped Memphis to a 7-6 win with his walk-off home run against Nashville last night.

McKenry appeared in 308 games in the majors with Colorado (2010, 2014-15) and Pittsburgh (2011-13), combining for a .239 batting average (200-for-838) with 29 homers and 103 RBI.