PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates shuffled their pitching staff Saturday ahead of the All-Star break, including a move of Steven Brault to the injured list and a recall of Luis Escobar, who has yet to make his Major League debut.

The club also optioned Dovydas Neverauskas, who allowed four runs in the eighth inning of Friday’s 7-6 loss, to Triple-A Indianapolis and recalled Montana DuRapau from the Indians.

Brault exited his start Friday with left shoulder discomfort, and an MRI on Saturday morning confirmed a left shoulder strain. The Pirates moved him to the 10-day IL, but manager Clint Hurdle understood the news to be “encouraging” and Brault said he’s “feeling positive” given what could have been.

“Basically, the way we look at it is 7-10 days is just not that long to take off of throwing and just be able to come back whenever you build up after that,” Brault said. “It’s sore. Yesterday, it kind of got more sore as the game went on, and so [we] shut it down just to make sure we didn’t do any real, irreparable damage kind of stuff.

“I could tell something was a little off, but nothing horrible.”

Brault’s placement on the injured list makes him the 24th Pirate to spend time on the shelf this season. Every starter in Pittsburgh’s Opening Day rotation, minus Joe Musgrove, has spent at least two weeks on the injured list, which has led to a flux of pitching reinforcements throughout the season.

The Pirates added a new one on Saturday in Escobar. Though the club’s No. 7 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, had his contract selected by the Pirates the first time in November 2017, protecting him from the Rule 5 Draft, he’s yet to appear in a game on a Major League field outside of his appearance in the 2017 Futures Game in Miami, which he said was a big step in his career.

“I remember when I threw that first strike, it gave me the confidence that, ‘Hey, I could do this at the big league level as well,’” Escobar said through interpreter Mike Gonzalez. “So right now, I’m feeling the excitement, the adrenaline to go out there and compete and also feel that same experience of throwing that first strike again.”

Though his contract had already been selected and he’d been recalled on Oct. 2, 2018, after the season had ended, the first call he made home after Triple-A Indianapolis manager Brian Esposito gave him the news was special nonetheless. His father, Luis, was playing dominoes with his friends, and he began yelling with tears of joy as his son told him the news.

It was the culmination of a journey that was first realized at age 10, as Escobar watched friends like former Pirates signee Harold Ramirez make it to the big leagues.

“That’s when I really started believing in myself, when I started seeing my friends and seeing that my talent was pretty equivalent to theirs,” Escobar said. “I was like, ‘Man, there’s hope here for me.’”

Hurdle said he doesn’t plan to use Escobar in a high-leverage situation for now unless tough circumstances arise (e.g. extra innings). The third-base-turned-pitching prospect the Pirates signed out of Colombia in 2013 has above-average stuff, but control has long been his issue. In 36 1/3 innings with Triple-A this season, he issued 20 walks to 42 strikeouts.

But Escobar, who has learned from and practiced with former Pirates reliever Ernesto Frieri, thinks that he’s used the people around him to improve his poise on the mound.

“I just want to give credit to those men,” he said, “but also… being able to mature and just connecting the maturity level with my talent. I think that’s what helped me improve a lot.”

Worth noting

• Keone Kela threw a simulated game at PNC Park on Saturday. The right-handed reliever has been on the injured list since May 8 (retroactive to May 6) with right shoulder inflammation. Kela was set back earlier this season after making one rehab appearance in Triple-A on May 25.