The Pittsburgh Pirates placed ace Gerrit Cole on the 15-day disabled list with right elbow inflammation.

Cole pitched five shaky innings in a 5-4 loss to Houston on Wednesday, and then let the team know he experienced some discomfort during the outing. He had a 6.08 ERA in five August starts.

Left-hander Steven Brault was promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis to take Cole’s spot in the rotation Monday night at the Chicago Cubs.

Cole’s injury means none of Pittsburgh’s five starters from opening day are currently in the rotation. Francisco Liriano and Jon Niese left via trade and Jeff Locke and Juan Nicasio are working out of the bullpen.

Mets still banged up

Yoenis Cespedes was back in the lineup Monday night for the New York Mets, who were still without double-play partners Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera for the first game of a pivotal series against Miami.

Wilmer Flores started at second base in place of Walker, sidelined for the second consecutive day by a stiff back. Kelly Johnson was at third, with Jose Reyes sliding over to Cabrera’s spot at shortstop.

Cabrera struck out as a pinch-hitter to end the seventh inning.

The N.L. player of the week last week, Cabrera exited Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia in the first inning after aggravating a left knee injury that sidelined him twice earlier this year.

Cespedes sat out Sunday after his nagging right quadriceps flared up.

Detroit’s Maybin leaves game after headfirst slide

Tigers outfielder Cameron Maybin left Monday night’s game against the White Sox in the fifth inning after bruising his left thumb on what turned out to be a needless headfirst slide into second base.

The team announced X-rays were negative.

Maybin was trying to steal second when Ian Kinsler took ball four, meaning there was no play. The throw went to second anyway, and when Maybin slid in, his left hand appeared to make contact with second baseman Tyler Saladino’s knee.

Maybin missed over a month at the start of the season with a broken left wrist.

Twins place Santana on DL with sprained shoulder

The Twins placed center fielder Danny Santana on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained left shoulder.

Santana was injured when he collided with left fielder Robbie Grossman in the first inning on Sunday in Toronto. He left the game the following inning and was examined Monday in Minneapolis.

Santana, a switch-hitter, is batting .240 with two homers, 14 RBIs and 12 stolen bases for Minnesota, which has lost 10 straight games.

Logan Schafer was called up from Triple-A Rochester and is starting in center field on Monday against Cleveland.