Cardinals purchase contract of first baseman Dan Johnson, option Lyons, Hatley

The St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday purchased the contract of first baseman Dan Johnson from Class AAA Memphis and optioned left-hander Tyler Lyons and right-hander Marcus Hatley to Memphis.

Lyons was the 26th man in the Cardinals’ doubleheader loss to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday at Wrigley Field.

Johnson, a veteran of nine major-league seasons, all in the American League, signed with the Cardinals as a minor-league free agent in early May and was batting .265 with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs in 61 games for Memphis. He had a .354 on-base percentage and was batting .362 (21-for-58) with runners in scoring position.

The left-handed-hitting Johnson, 35, owns a career .236 batting mark with 57 home runs and 201 RBIs in 431 games with stops Oakland (2005-08), Tampa Bay (2008, 2010-11), the Chicago White Sox (2012), Baltimore (2013) and Toronto (2014).

Johnson, 35, has enjoyed eight minor league seasons with 20 or more homers, including 2010 when he hit a career-high 30 round-trippers for the Durham Bulls (AAA).

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Johnson was drafted by Oakland in the seventh round in 2001 out of the University of Nebraska. He hit 15 home runs for the A’s in 2005 and 18 in 2007.

Johnson has been assigned uniform No. 30.

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Cardinals purchase contract of first baseman Dan Johnson, option Lyons, Hatley."