Giles leaves with knee bruise

NOTES

San Diego Padres right fielder Brian Giles left Sunday’s game against the Colorado Rockies in the third inning with a bruised right knee after colliding with center fielder Dave Roberts.

Giles and Roberts were attempting to field a double by Choo Freeman in right-center in the second inning when the two knocked knees. Giles went down and remained on the ground for a few minutes while trainer Todd Hutcheson examined him.

Giles stayed in the game, but came out the next inning after hitting a double down the right-field line. Giles said his knee felt stiff.

Xavier Nady ran for Giles and took his place in right field.

Giles will have an MRI exam to check for any further damage. The two-time All-Star strained a ligament in his right knee in April 2003 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and missed 23 games.

Sosa placed on D.L.

Sammy Sosa was placed on the 15-day disabled list by the Baltimore Orioles, who decided against taking a wait-and-see stance on the toe injury that has sidelined the slumping slugger since Thursday.

Sosa had a lesion removed from underneath the nail of his right big toe on Friday. It’s similar to an injury that forced him out of action in 2003, when he was with the Chicago Cubs.

“I asked him if he was opposed to the DL, and he said he was probably going to need a little more time.

“He thought it would be a week to 10 days. At that point in time you might as well DL him,” Perlozzo said. “He said he’s had the thing in the past where he’s missed more time than that.”

Mulder skips start

St. Louis left-hander Mark Mulder skipped his turn in the rotation against Washington again because of a stiff neck.

Mulder (15-6) was originally supposed to face Washington on Saturday, then was pushed back to Sunday. The Cardinals decided it wasn’t worth risking further injury, so Mulder isn’t expected to pitch until his next scheduled turn on Friday at Houston, manager Tony La Russa said.