It has not been a very lucky season for Colin Moran.
Prior to Thursday's game against the Brewers, Derek Shelton told reporters that the 28-year-old first baseman will be headed to the injured list for the second time this season. Jared Oliva has been recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis as the corresponding move. Moran was hit on the left hand Monday against the Rockies and felt some pain in that wrist that's kept him out of the lineup since.
But the club announced Thursday that a CT scan revealed a small fracture in the pisiform bone, which is at the base of the hand on the side of the pinkie finger. The Pirates are calling it a wrist injury and are just placing him on the 10-day IL at this point.
"We were day to day with him. They symptoms just did not increase so we went for further evaluation," Shelton said.
This present stretch will be the fourth in which Moran has missed multiple games this season. He was previously out for a month with a left groin strain. Just three games into his return in early June, Moran took a pitch off the right hand that limited him to two at-bats over a three-game span. He then tweaked his back in Milwaukee on June 13 and again had two at-bats in a four-day span.
Moran is batting .280/.345/.414 with four homers, nine doubles and 23 RBIs so far this season. He had settled into the cleanup spot but struggled since his return from injury earlier in the month. But Moran seemed to be turning a corner in St. Louis, where he tallied five hits in 14 at-bats.
This latest hiatus will put even more pressure on the top three bats in the order to carry a lineup that scored two total runs over the past three games in a very hitter-friendly stadium in Colorado. Defensively, Phillip Evans and Erik Gonzalez will have to cover things at first base during Moran's absence.
Oliva hadn't exactly been tearing it up in Indianapolis at the time of his second call to the majors. The 25-year-old outfielder stayed behind in Bradenton with Cole Tucker to get some extra hitting work when the team broke camp for the regular season and the latest iteration of the alternate site.
An oblique strain in April prevented him from participating in the alt site activities and pushed his season debut back to June 12. Oliva had eight total hits, including a double and a triple, in 48 at-bats (.167) in the minors before Thursday. His place on the roster is more circumstantial considering he was already on the 40-man roster.
Shelton said that Oliva will first provide some added depth and fill in as an occasional starter. As far as that extra work done in Bradenton is concerned, everything is still very much a work in progress.
"I think it's something they're working on and continuing to work on," Shelton said. "It’s not one of those things that, automatically is gonna happen. It’s something we're still in the development phase, still working through."
Although there won't be specifics revealed about this until after the game, Oliva's call to the majors might have something to do with a sudden need for outfield depth. Beyond Evans being used to cover innings at first base, Gregory Polanco is not in Thursday's starting lineup. It was the second consecutive game in which Polanco is not starting against a right-handed pitcher.
MORE FROM PREGAME
• It's a good time to be a Bednar.
David Bednar got to watch his brother, Will Bednar, pitch Mississippi State to a national title after their game Wednesday in Colorado.
"We got to watch the first two innings in the clubhouse because the game started maybe 10 minutes after ours ended, and then we watched the next to on the way to the airport on my phone, then watched the rest of the game on the flight," the Pirates reliever said. "So, I turned just about every single TV on the seats in front of me on the flight to the game, so it was just awesome. It was so cool."
The elder Bednar has been tremendously excitable about his brother's College World Series exploits. He's blurted "Go Dawgs" at just about every turn in the past couple weeks and, according to Shelton, he's worn a Mississippi State pullover just about every day since the Bulldogs got to Omaha. Needless to say, seeing his brother taken home Most Outstanding Player honors had him beaming with pride.
"Unbelievable. I still don’t really have words for it, honestly," Bednar said. "I was kind of smiling ear to ear the whole flight, really. There’s no other way to put it. Unreal. I’m so happy for him and his whole team. Just deserving of every bit of it, and just a big time proud brother moment, for sure."
The 21-year-old Bednar outdueled Vanderbilt's Kumar Rocker in the finals clincher and racked up 26 strikeouts over 18 1/3 innings in the final three games for Mississippi State in Omaha. He'll likely be selected within the first 20 picks in the draft in just a little more than a week.
There was some friendly rivalries in the Pirates clubhouse based on the CWS finals. Adam Frazier and Chris Stratton, both Mississippi State alums, got to have some fun with Vanderbilt product Bryan Reynolds over the past few days. Of course, the wonderfully vocal Bednar added some fuel to that "fire."
"There was a lot of smack talk. Definitely, there was quite a bit of that," Bednar joked. "It’s been a lot of fun to watch the whole season and obviously the playoffs and the College World Series with [Frazier and Stratton], and for them to share their experiences at State, and just to get a vibe of how much it means to Starkville and Mississippi. So it’s been a lot of fun, and I’m just so happy for all the Bulldogs out there."
The Pirates will be flying back from New York right around the start of the draft next Sunday, and Bednar figures to be back home with his family in Mars, Pa. by the time his brother's name is called in the first round. Until then, David Bednar is still looking for that Hail State cowbell.
"Maybe they'll bring me one," he said with a laugh. "I'm planning on going down for a football game this fall, and I'll get one of those and then I'll come back and ring it all year for Bryan to hear."