DETROIT -- After entering the week with the possibility that Ke’Bryan Hayes might return, the Pirates’ will have to be without their star third baseman for a little while longer.
Director of sports medicine Todd Tomcyzk said Thursday morning that Hayes aggravated the left wrist injury that’s kept him out since the second game of the season. Hayes is headed back to Pittsburgh for further evaluation, and the club did not provide a timeline for his return.
"At this point, anything to speculate more than it is re-aggravation is in the same anatomical region, it's the same spot," Tomcyzk said.
Hayes had joined the alternate-site team on the road in Toledo, Ohio, so that he could get into some rehab games before being activated off the injured list. But the ugly weather that’s swept the Midwest this week forced the cancellation of alt-site games on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Pirates brought Hayes an hour north to Detroit to try and hit off a machine in a Comerica Park batting cage. Tomcyzk said that toward the end of his session in the cage, Hayes felt the injury pop back up on an awkward, over-extending swing, similar to the one he made when he first got hurt against Jake Arrieta in Chicago on April 3.
"Obviously frustrated and disappointed when you have a re-aggravation, and I think the big point of that, one of the major points of this is why you trust the rehab process," Derek Shelton said. "He was disappointed. I think the next step is finding out what we're going to do, how we're going to move forward and then address it that way. The main message for him was just stay positive. We're 19 games into the season. Let's stay positive. Let's reassess and move on and see where we're at."
Tomcyzk did not want to speculate as to whether or not the nature of the injury had changed until Hayes was able to get an MRI on the wrist. But he did say with some confidence that it was an aggravation of the same injury.
"Thankfully, he did make us aware of it, so he didn't push himself into anything potentially further. But we'll learn more," he said.
Since his injury at the start of the season, the Pirates have maintained that Hayes would need a slow progression to build up to his return. He began swinging the bat last week with soft tossing, then worked up to regular batting practice and finally full-velocity swings against a machine.
He was cleared to return to full baseball activities by the time he joined the alternate site team in Toledo on Tuesday.
"Unfortunately, re-aggravations of injuries happen," Tomcyzk said. "We're dealing with human beings here. We're not dealing with black and white. There's a lot of gray in the way the body heals. There's a lot of gray in medicine, and sports medicine in particular."
Continuing to fill in at Hayes' position at third should be Erik Gonzalez, Phillip Evans, Wilmer Difo and the newly activated Todd Frazier. Rodolfo Castro, who made his MLB debut at third base for the Pirates' in Wednesday's nightcap, should now get a few extra days on the big-league roster -- or at least until Ka'ai Tom passes through intake protocols.
"I think in that regard we never plan because the day to day changes," Shelton said. "Now with the situation of the re-aggravation, we'll sit back and assess and go from there. But as you guys know, in the span of 48 hours, things can happen and you make adjustments and that's what we're doing."
MORE INJURY NEWS
• The Pirates' rotation took a hit as well as opening day starter Chad Kuhl was placed on the injured list with right shoulder discomfort. Right-hander Geoff Hartlieb has been recalled in Kuhl’s place.
Kuhl was 0-1 with a 6.32 ERA through his first four starts of the season. Shelton said that the issues in Kuhl’s shoulder appeared after Sunday’s 6-5 win against the Brewers. In which, Kuhl allowed three runs on five hits and a walk over five innings -- his longest outing of the year so far.
“It was just something that lent itself after his last start, and with the discomfort, going to Minnesota, it being cold and the off-days coming up, we just felt that it was the best opportunity to give him a little bit of a break,” Shelton said.
The Pirates have not decided on a contingency plan for Kuhl’s turn in the rotation Sunday against the Twins. Shelton mentioned Sean Poppen, Duane Underwood Jr. and Luis Oviedo as potential multi-inning relievers that could handle the workload if the team wants to go with a bullpen day.
He also did not take the idea of using an opener off the table.
“I have thought about that. I think you know me well enough to know that I think creatively as much as possible,” Shelton said. “We've thought through a ton of scenarios. The fact that we play three games before that will kind of dictate where we're at.”
Hartlieb held a 3.63 ERA in 21 innings for the Pirates last season but did not make the opening day roster. He had a 7.11 ERA in 6 ⅓ innings this spring.
• The Pirates are already short on outfielders, and young Jared Oliva won’t be a solution for that problem for at least four weeks after being diagnosed with an oblique strain.
Oliva felt some tightness in his abdominal and midsection after taking swings in batting practice at the alternate site. He stayed in Florida with Cole Tucker for some extra work to improve his bat before coming north last week, but he was not able to get in any alt site games before getting injured.