MIAMI — The Rays will head into September without two of their most impactful players, as second baseman Brandon Lowe and ace pitcher Shane McClanahan were placed on the injured list Wednesday.
Infielder/outfielder Vidal Brujan and reliever Calvin Faucher were called up from Triple-A Durham.
Lowe hasn’t played since being hit by a pitch on his right elbow Friday and clearly wasn’t feeling good enough to get back on the field. His placement on the 10-day injured list is retroactive to Sunday, so he will be eligible to return Sept. 7 against Boston.
McClanahan was scratched from his Tuesday start when he felt discomfort in his left shoulder warming up. He initially was diagnosed with an impingement, pending imaging and further evaluation Wednesday. There has been no update yet from the team.
If that is the case and the standard course of treatment of rest and a cortisone shot helps, the 15-day injured-list stint could be roughly all the time he misses. He is eligible to return Sept. 15, the final day of the Rays’ series in Toronto.
Brujan struggled in earlier stints with the Rays; he is hitting .301 with an .847 OPS with the Bulls. Faucher also had a rough time with the Rays earlier this year in his first major league action; he is 3-3, 3.73 at Durham.
Faucher adds a fresh arm to a bullpen that covered nine innings Tuesday with McClanahan out, but the Rays likely are going to need to bring up a starter (Luis Patino?) by early next week, if not sooner.
