The mystery surrounding Kip Wells’ irritated finger was supposed to be cleared up Wednesday. It was further muddled, instead. And it still hasn’t been decided whether the Pirates’ right-hander will make his next scheduled start, Saturday against Seattle, although it seems unlikely considering he will be visiting a hand specialist Friday at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Wells, who has been bothered for several weeks with numbness and cold sensations at the tip of his right middle finger, underwent a battery of tests earlier this week under the supervision of Dr. Mark Baritz, a hand specialist at Allegheny General Hospital. Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield said Wells will visit Wake Forest orthopedic hand surgeon Dr. David Ruch to get “a second view and analysis” of the tests. “I wouldn’t classify it as a second opinion,” Littlefield said. On May 25, 2003, a blister on Wells’ right middle finger caused him to be scratched from a start against the St. Louis Cardinals, but Littlefield said this problem is not related. In his most recent start, Sunday at Oakland, Wells lasted 4 1/3 innings, departing after Adam Melhuse’s grand slam gave the A’s an 8-3 lead. The slam came on the 113th pitch thrown by Wells (3-5), who hasn’t had a quality start since May 23 and has worked five innings or fewer in his past three starts. Wells’ ERA has swelled to 5.25. That’s almost two runs higher than last season, when he ranked 11th in the National League with a 3.28 ERA. “He’s continued to be concerned about it, as far as the feel he has for throwing certain pitches,” Littlefield said. “I’m not sure we have the ultimate, final analysis.” The most likely candidate to take Wells’ start Saturday, if the Pirates make a recall to fill the slot, would be Sean Burnett from Class AAA Nashville. Bay watch Outfielder Jason Bay went into last night’s game with a .163 average (7 for 43) in his previous 15 games. That included strikeouts on all four at-bats Tuesday. “Young players take those things to heart,” McClendon said. “But, he’s tough kid. I think he’ll be fine.” Bay was not in the starting lineup last night. Interleague thoughts McClendon is not a big fan of interleague play or the designated hitter. On the latter subject, he figures the DH is here to stay, although he declined to predict whether it would ever infiltrate the National League. “Once the union got it, that was it,” McClendon said. “Fact is, that’s more jobs.” If not more jobs, McClendon later allowed, the DH leads to jobs that are more lucrative.

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