"The Boston Red Sox will place Kevin Youkilis on the 15-day disabled list with a sore back Thursday and call up Triple-A catcher Ryan Lavarnway to take his spot, manager Terry Francona said on Boston sports radio WEEI.

Youkilis had missed several games over the last week with the nagging injury and was clearly laboring with it in Wednesday's game.

"(Youkilis') lower back has been bothering him for a while," said Francona, who added that the first baseman stayed back in Boston to have tests done at Mass General Hospital and have an injection in his lower back. "Hopefully that will alleviate some of the symptoms. He's just been so beat up. When it got to the back part it just overwhelmed him. Hopefully two weeks down will really allow his body to come back and then we can have the Youk that we need for the stretch drive.""