Garrett Richards had a stem-cell injection in his right elbow on Monday in the hopes that he can avoid Tommy John surgery.

The Los Angeles Angels placed Richards on the disabled list earlier this month. The right-hander decided on the injection as a way to avoid surgery for the torn ligament in his arm, although it will be weeks before he knows whether it worked.

"Hopefully it's going to be the course of action he needs to heal and get back to action," Mike Scioscia said. "Really he doesn't have many symptoms at all, so I know that he's confident that he'll heal with this course of action."