Pirates starting pitcher Zach Duke will skip his start scheduled for Tuesday at Texas due to a a minor muscle strain near his left, pitching elbow, manager John Russell said this afternoon.

Russell said Duke experienced "a little discomfort" pitching Wednesday in the midst of a 7-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox -- about the time he yielded three fourth-inning runs and was responsible for two more in the sixth. Duke is expected to forego his turn in a rotation that, thanks to an off day Monday, wouldn't miss a beat. Ross Ohlendorf on five days' rest is set to start Tuesday instead of Duke, followed by Paul Maholm, Jeff Karstens and Brad Lincoln before Duke would be available for Saturday in Oakland.

"We decided to be kind of conservative with it just to make sure he's feeling OK," Russell said. "He's got a side [session scheduled] on Wednesday; if that goes well, then we should have no problems. As of right now, everything looks good for it.

"Could he have made his start Tuesday? Yeah, I would think, probably. But it's just not anything we wanted to mess with. It's not really in the joint, it's in the muscle right close to his elbow. We think it was just a mild strain. He should be fine. But with the off day, we just felt it was smarter to give him the extra rest."

Duke's five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings Tuesday marked his fourth loss in four starts and a 1-8 record since he recorded victories in his opening pair of starts this season.

"My shoulder got a little tired earlier [this season], but it was no big deal. This is," Duke said after pregame practice, his left elbow area encased in ice.

"I had [this] in '07, tried to pitch through it, ended up on the shelf for two months. Lesson learned."

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