DENVER -- The Pirates aren't particularly pleased with Gregory Polanco.
Their mercurial right fielder was placed on the 10-day disabled list Saturday afternoon because of his second left hamstring injury of the season. He'll rehabilitate with Class AAA Indianapolis. Left-hander Stephen Brault was recalled from Indianapolis to take his place, and he'll pitch in relief rather than his customary starting role. Brault was in the clubhouse before the Saturday night game against the Rockies at Coors Field.
In the fourth inning of the 13-5 victory here Friday, Polanco busted down the line to avoid being doubled up at first base and came up lame near the end:
Clint Hurdle didn't expressly call out Polanco for the injury -- widely regarded as the most preventable in sports -- but neither did he hold back when I asked if this injury was a recurrence of one that cost him 11 days in May.
"We met in here today with Todd," Hurdle said, referring to summoning Polanco into his office to meet with him and athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk. "It's just a situation where we're trying to peel back layers as to why we've had the number of different issues that we've had. Whenever you play in the WBC, you never know, because it's an accelerated schedule."
Polanco represented the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic during spring training.
"What we can do to help him moving forward," Hurdle continued, "there are some different things, nutritional things, different routines and workouts because ... it's a young, strong man who's been nicked up quite a number of times. So we're best served by sending him down, getting him healthy again and replugging him in the lineup, because he's been playing his best baseball."
Polanco was batting .387 for July, 24 for 62 for a .387 average with three home runs and six doubles, and the poor timing of his injury wasn't exactly appreciated by some veterans in the clubhouse any more than it was by Hurdle.
"The biggest thing for this team is that we have to stay healthy," one veteran told me. "We all owe it to the team to be as healthy as we can be and get out there on the field every day."
Brault, 25, buried a negligible spring -- 16 hits in 15 2/3 innings -- by excelling in Indianapolis' rotation. His 2.06 ERA leads the International League, and he ranks among the top 10 with a 1.13 WHIP, 95 strikeouts and 100 1/3 innings.
"I feel like I've got a lot more confidence, and part of it is physical ability," Brault said. "At spring training, I don't think I was quite there yet. Just being able to simplify and going back to what made me good in the first place, I think that's going to be the difference-maker."
Translation: He's throwing a lot harder now. In the spring, he looked like Jeff Locke lite and was getting hammered with hard contact. In Indianapolis, his fastball returned to a respectable 93 mph, and he was able to locate it effectively.
Hurdle, facing eight more games of potentially heavy bullpen management on this western swing, including two more at pitcher-eating Coors, said the Pirates wanted to have Brault available for long relief.
"We could use him in any number of situations out of the pen," Hurdle said, "and that includes multiple innings."