After he missed four turns through the rotation at the start of the season with a left-side strain, the Detroit Tigers placed starting pitcher Doug Fister back on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday with a recurrence of the injury.

Casey Crosby will be called up from Triple-A Toledo to take his spot in the rotation, making his Major League Baseball debut in Friday's series opener against the New York Yankees at Comerica Park.

It's the second trip to disabled list already for Fister, who has yet to win a game for the Tigers this season, after going 8-1 for the Tigers after last year's deadline trade. The Tigers have only won one game Fister started this season — his debut, when he lasted just 3 2/3 innings before straining the costochondral junction in his left side.

The Tigers back-dated the move to Tuesday, the day after Fister's worst start of the campaign — he gave up six earned runs on 11 hits to the Red Sox in five innings — reminiscent of his worst start in a Tigers uniform, an 8-5 loss to the Orioles last Aug. 14.

As the Tigers said when Fister initially injured his side, he's too valuable to risk having him try to pitch through the pain. He'll miss at least two more starts before he's eligible to come off the DL again.

Fister was scheduled to pitch again on Saturday, but that slot will be filled by Friday's projected starter, Rick Porcello. Crosby (4-2, 4.26 ERA, 50.2 IP, 57 K, 26 BB) will step into Porcello's spot Friday.

One of the spring training candidates for the fifth starter job, Crosby has started to pitch better after a shaky start in Triple-A. After giving up 21 hits and 11 walks in his first 18 innings of work, Crosby has given up just 22 more hits in his last five starts combined. His last three starts, he's yielded just five walks (four of those in the first of the three) as opposed to 25 strikeouts.