Not surprisingly, Clint Hurdle declined to talk about relief pitcher Keone Kela’s two-game suspension that ended Tuesday night.

But the Pittsburgh Pirates manager said the team intends to activate Kela on Wednesday.

“We may look for a non-leverage situation, first and foremost out of the gate,” Hurdle said. “Obviously, we can use the help. It will be good to have him back in the bullpen.”

Kela went on the injured list May 8 with shoulder inflammation after working only 112⁄3 innings this season.

The Pirates bullpen has had spotty success this season, but the return of Kela and Kyle Crick’s recent improvement might give Hurdle more late-inning options.

Crick had a stretch recently when he walked at least one batter in 12 of 13 appearances. His ERA increased from a low of 1.83 on June 4 to its current 3.75 after he gave up 11 earned runs and 20 walks in 16 innings.

Overall, he has walked 30 in 36 innings.

But he has enjoyed what Hurdle calls clean innings (no hits, no walks) in three of his past four outings.

“More of an approach sort of deal,” Crick said, “attacking the hitters from pitch one.

“Not trying to fish for strikes and swing and misses, just using my stuff to get ahead of people and when I’m ahead, put them away.

“The last six or seven outings, I’ve been caught up trying to paint corners, got a little bit out of whack.”

Kela’s return could take some stress off relievers Richard Rodriguez and Francisco Liriano, who lead the staff in appearances (48 and 46, respectively). That computes to nearly one every other game.

“We’ve probably used both of them more than we want to, based on some of the shortcomings we’ve had out there, whether it be injuries or lack of performance level,” Hurdle said.

“We’re mindful of what we’re doing. We need some other people to step up.”

Polanco seeks answers

Hurdle said Gregory Polanco was in New York City on Monday to meet with his orthopedic surgeon, Dr. David Altchek. Hurdle offered no specifics on the results of that examination.

Polanco has been on the injured list since June 22.

Bell still extra special

When the Pirates met the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday at PNC Park in the 100th game of the season, Josh Bell carried a 5-for-39 slump before he flied out to center field in his first at-bat.

But his double Monday night gave him a major league-high 62 extra-base hits. He also doubled in the third inning Tuesday to give him 63, including 33 doubles.

The most recent player to record more than 62 extra-base hits after 100 games was the Chicago Cubs’ Derrek Lee in 2005.

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