Make no mistake: Kevin Millwood did not want to go on the disabled list today with a strained forearm – technically called a flexor mass.

When asked, if it were up to him, whether he would have made his next start scheduled for Saturday, the soft-spoken Millwood said, “Yeah.”

But it wasn’t up to him.

“It is frustrating. You want to be able to go out and try to help your team, and not being able to do that is frustrating,” said Millwood, who is 2-8 with a 5.77 ERA in 18 starts. “The way things were going, I wasn’t helping much anyway. So hopefully I can help get it back on track a little bit.”

After Millwood allowed five runs and threw 45 pitches in one inning Monday – the third-shortest start of his 14-season career – and his fastball velocity was dipped into the mid-80s, it became obvious to the Orioles that something wasn’t physically right with Millwood.

He was checked out by doctors, and the strained forearm was diagnosed. Millwood will see team orthopedist Dr. John Wilckens in Texas this week for another examination.

In the meantime, interim manager Juan Samuel said the decision was made to place Millwood on the 15-day DL and activate outfielder Felix Pie. No 40-man roster move was needed.

Samuel said it wasn’t an easy conversation with Millwood when the decision was conveyed.

“It’s tough when you present a situation to somebody like Kevin, who likes the ball,” Samuel said. “We were in there for a long time. It definitely was not something that he wanted to do. We have to make that decision. And, unfortunately, he has to go along with it. But we were just looking out for the best interests of everybody.”

Talking about his forearm, Millwood said: “Probably over the last week or so, it’s been a little sore. Pitching in the game doesn’t bother it as much. Trying to do work in between that was the big problem. After the game yesterday it was pretty sore, and, like I said, they just decided to give it a break.”

Millwood said he doesn’t blame his recent ineffectiveness on the injury but it does buy him some time to figure things out. He said it is the first time he has had such an injury.

“I think I have been sore in every spot there is, but this is one I haven’t encountered,” he said. “But it is also something I don’t think that is going to linger on beyond this either.”

Samuel didn’t mention names but said it was likely the Orioles would call up someone from the minors to make Millwood’s scheduled start Saturday, two games before the All-Star break. Chris Tillman, who is pitching exceptionally well at Triple-A Norfolk, would be on regular rest and is the most likely candidate to get the call.