Brandon Inge landed on the DL with a pulled oblique muscle on Wednesday. (Duane Burleson/Associated Press)

Detroit Tigers catcher Brandon Inge was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday because of a pulled oblique muscle.

The move is retroactive to June 23, when he aggravated the injury fluffing a pillow for his three-year-old son.

"That is a first," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.

"It was the stupidest, freakiest thing," Inge said. "That is just par for the year right there."

Inge, 31, suffered the initial injury in a 7-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on June 1 at Seattle, and needed a cortisone two weeks later.

"It was good that I played through it, tried to do it," he said. "To me, I don't like quitting.

"I want to have a sense that, at least, I gave it a shot. I don't have a reputation for not being a guy that plays hurt."

Inge is hitting .215 with six home runs, 23 runs batted in and 19 runs scored in 52 games this season.

He has played third base, outfield and catcher, and recently had been starting every second game behind the plate to spell workhorse Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez.

"I will have to get away from that some, probably more than I would like to," Leyland said. "I'm not going to beat Pudge into the ground, no matter what."

Inge is a lifetime .239 hitter with 91 HRs, 382 RBIs and 356 runs scored in 931 games since breaking into the major leagues with Detroit on April 3, 2001.

To replace him on the roster, Detroit promoted catcher Dane Sardinha from the triple-A Toledo Mudhens.

With files from the Associated Press