BRADENTON, Fla. -- Ke'Bryan Hayes is hurt, and it doesn't sound too bad.
But then, the Pirates' April 7 season opener in St. Louis is 10 days away, and everything sounds bad when it's this late in the spring.
Hayes' right ankle was sprained during a practice drill over the weekend, the team announced Tuesday shortly before the 6-2 victory over the Red Sox at LECOM Park, adding that he'll be held out of games "for a brief period of time," but also doing everything on the side except baserunning.
"Right now, we're going to go day-to-day with it," Derek Shelton would say after the game when asked if there was any other detail. "He rolled it the other day. It's still a little tender. He did go through baseball activities today without running. The fact that he did the baseball activities today is an encouraging sign. But we're just going to have to see how he feels."
For what it's worth, I saw Hayes passing through the clubhouse in full uniform early Tuesday morning with nothing visibly amiss.
Hayes is 4 for 12 with an RBI in Grapefruit League play this spring.
