CLEVELAND | Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar is heading to the disabled list, perhaps for an extended stay, after suffering a perplexing bone bruise above his right rib cage in Tuesday&#8217;s 9-4 loss to the Indians at Progressive Field.</p><p>Hochevar remained at a loss Wednesday to explain the cause of the injury, which surfaced as he was throwing warm-up pitches in the sixth inning.</p><p>What was certain is he remained in pain.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s about the same,&#8221; Hochevar acknowledged. &#8220;Sitting still hurts. Standing up feels the best. Some pain medicine helped me sleep. As long as I didn&#8217;t move, I was all right.&#8221;</p><p>The Royals replaced Hochevar by recalling reliever Josh Newman from Class AAA Omaha. Actually, Newman never reached Omaha &#8212; he was still in Ohio after being optioned Tuesday to the O-Royals to clear space for just-signed Kip Wells.</p><p>Newman allowed three runs in six innings over three appearances for the Royals after joining the club Aug. 10 from Omaha.</p><p>Hochevar still had trouble drawing deep breaths Wednesday after returning from X-rays that showed no fractures or tears. It did reveal a strain on the intercostal muscle between the ribs.</p><p>&#8220;Best-case scenario,&#8221; manager Trey Hillman said, &#8220;it&#8217;s just a 15-day DL, and he can get some more work in this season. But it&#8217;s not going to be one of those things where we&#8217;re going to force it.&#8221;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Rotation options</span></strong></p><p>So who starts Saturday and Sunday against the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium? The early-line favorites are Kyle Davies and Brandon Duckworth, although Wells remains a possibility over Duckworth for Sunday&#8217;s game.</p><p>Hillman gave little away before Wednesday&#8217;s game.</p><p>&#8220;As of right now, we&#8217;re TBA for Saturday and Sunday,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The options will probably come from the Triple-A club. So we&#8217;ll see what gets suggested in the next couple of days.&#8221;</p><p>Hillman said it was &#8220;very doubtful&#8221; the Royals would use a bullpen committee for either game.</p><p>Summoning either Davies or Duckworth presents procedural problems.</p><p>Davies was optioned Aug. 15 to Omaha and must remain at least 10 days in the minors unless replacing a player requiring time on the disabled list. That could be reliever Ron Mahay, who has made only one appearance since Aug. 6 because of a sore left foot.</p><p>Nonetheless, the Royals positioned Davies for a recall by limiting him to one inning Tuesday after his scheduled start Monday was rained out.</p><p>Adding Duckworth would require a space-clearing move on the 40-man roster. Duckworth pitched five shutout innings Tuesday and could pitch Sunday on four days&#8217; rest. The Royals could opt for Wells, who worked primarily as a starter throughout his 10-year career. But he has pitched only 3 1/3 innings since July 31.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Etc.</span></strong></p><p>&#8226;Alex Gordon returned to the lineup and went one for four after missing Tuesday&#8217;s game because of a sore lower back.</p><p>&#8226;The Royals, 55-71, matched a season worst by falling to 16 games below .500.