NEW YORK — Gold Glove third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes was scratched from the Pittsburgh Pirates‘ lineup Tuesday night against the New York Mets because of tightness in his lower back.
“It just kind of locked up on him a little bit trying to work out. He couldn’t get it really to release, so just out of the abundance of caution just going to make sure that we keep him down,” manager Derek Shelton said.
Jared Triolo shifted from second base to third and moved from sixth in the batting order to Hayes’ spot at No. 3. Jose Hernandez balked home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the Pirates lost 3-1.
Oneil Cruz, who had been scheduled for a night off against left-hander Jose Quintana, was inserted at shortstop. Alika Williams moved from shortstop to second base.
Hayes began the day batting .277 with no homers and seven RBIs.
In other injury-related news, Yasmani Grandal (left foot plantar fasciitis) was set to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday night with Triple-A Indianapolis. The 35-year-old catcher was expected to play four or five innings, Shelton said, but there’s still no timetable for his return.
“As we kind of build up, we’ll have to go from there,” Shelton said. “He really has had no spring training, so we’ve got to make sure we get a spring training aspect there.”
Grandal, a two-time All-Star, is waiting to make his Pirates debut. He signed a $2.5 million, one-year contract in mid-February after spending the previous four seasons with the Chicago White Sox.
“We’ve been able to do everything with him. He’s been catching. He’s been getting at-bats off the machine. But he hasn’t played in a game,” Shelton said. “So we just need to get the game in. We need to get running in. We need to get him on the bases as much as possible.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
