Joe Maddon stresses Brandon Morrow just needs rest

Manager Joe Maddon wants his relievers to tell him the truth. Closer Brandon Morrow’s honesty earned him some games off.

Maddon stressed that Morrow isn’t injured. Maddon just wanted to rest him when he turned to Pedro Strop and Steve Cishek to close the victories Friday and Saturday, respectively.

“I think he’s been pretty honest with me that he’s been a little bit — again, he’s not hurt — he just feels a little fatigued. So that’s fine because when you are like that, you’re going to go out there and try to manufacture something that’s not there, and that’s when you can get hurt,” Maddon said. “I’d rather him not play under those circumstances.”

Morrow, who has appeared in 25 games, was available Sunday but did not pitch.

Hendricks’ end

Maddon pinch-hit for Kyle Hendricks in the fifth inning, even though he had thrown only 87 pitches. Maddon said his reason was twofold: The Pirates had three left-handed hitters due up in the sixth, and he wanted to give Tommy La Stella a chance to hit and create offense.

It didn’t work out. La Stella grounded into a double play, and the Pirates scored five times in the sixth.

“Kyle did his job. Everything was right there,” Maddon said. “We just did not get the hit.”

It was another short outing for Hendricks, who has thrown 100 or more pitches once this season. He didn’t second-guess Maddon’s decision to pinch-hit for him.

“That’s part of the game right there,” Hendricks said. “Got a chance to get on the board, and you’ve got to take it.”

Yu don’t know

Maddon said he didn’t know whether Yu Darvish (right triceps tendinitis) would be back before the All-Star break.

“He’s feeling better. He’s going to throw again [Monday] here, and then we’re just going to keep building off of it,” Maddon said. “I think we’ll know more by the end of this coming week, exactly what we think, regarding hopefully being able to lay out a plan of getting him back. We’re not at that point yet.”

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This and that

After leading off Friday and Saturday, Kris Bryant went 0-for-4 hitting third.

— Loyola’s Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt visited Maddon before the game and took part in Sunday mass. Maddon gave her a signed painting from his art collection.