Akin was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday with lower back discomfort, Steve Melewski of MASNSports.com reports.
Akin appears to have picked up a back injury when he last pitched Wednesday, getting charged with a loss after he tossed two-thirds of an inning and allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits and a walk while striking out two batters versus Cincinnati. He'll now be unavailable for at least a couple weeks. Left-hander Nick Vespi was called up from Triple-A Norfolk to replace Akin on the major-league roster.