To make room for Bruney, Villone was placed on the DL:

Bruney, 25, was brought up from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre when left-hander Ron Villone hit the 15-day disabled list with a mild lower back strain. ...

Covering first base on a Casey Kotchman grounder on Tuesday at Anaheim, Villone said he felt his back tweak, which he didn't think would be a major injury at the time.

But when Villone couldn't sit still on Wednesday in the bullpen and was uncomfortable flying to Detroit, the 37-year-old left-hander mentioned the issue to Torre.