Finding time to sleep a frequent nightmare

When a Pirates charter flight lands early in the morning after a night game, reliever Jared Hughes doesn’t wait for his luggage. He packs a carry-on with everything he’ll need that night, dashes to the hotel, puts on an eye mask and earplugs and crashes.

“I'm just out as soon as I get in the hotel room,” Hughes said.

This is Hughes’ method of dealing with a major league team’s travel schedule, which becomes challenging when the getaway falls on a night game and causes players to arrive in the next city at 3 or 4 a.m. The schedule has been this way for years, but, as time lost to injury increases and teams look for

the smallest edge, players and front offices alike are paying attention.

“What the guys are being asked to do with respect to game start times, with respect to the travel distances themselves, with respect to performing at an elite level with three days off a month, is a challenge,” Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark said at the All-Star Game earlier this month. “I think that's why, as we continue to move forward here and guys continue to be asked to do more and more, it's something that we need to look at.”

No one feels sorry for baseball players, who fly on charter planes, stay at nice hotels and earn, at minimum, $507,500 a year. The Pirates also have it better than some: Division rivals Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee are relatively close.

The on-field product is the concern. Teams lost almost 30,000 days to disabled list stints in 2013, according to Fangraphs.com data, compared to less than 25,000 in 2002.

“It's obviously a topic for discussion as we worked to find ways to allow our guys to recover better, to be sharper that night game after a night game traveling,” general manager Neal Huntington said.

But night games mean fans have time to get off work and in the seats or in front of the television sets.

“I know all players wish they could have a day game on getaway days, but you understand the economics behind the night games, drawing a bigger crowd and whatnot,” Chris Stewart said. “I know there's going to be discussions in the upcoming bargaining agreement. Hopefully, we can all come to somewhat of a good solution to where it benefits everybody.”

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the issue will be discussed in negotiations as the end of the current collective bargaining agreement, which runs through 2016, approaches.

In the meantime, teams and players do their best to adjust. The Pirates consult with Dr. Christopher Winter, owner of Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine in Virginia, and have him periodically meet with the players. When the team played four night games — two in Pittsburgh, two in Chicago — against the White Sox, then flew to Washington for a game the next day against the Nationals, a trip multiple players identified as tough, Dr. Winter was there to meet them.

“On a West Coast trip, try to stay up as late as you can the first day,” said Jordy Mercer of a recommendation of Dr. Winter’s that he found helpful. “Try to get adjusted. Otherwise, you'll wake up about 6 in the morning and be ready to roll.”

Hughes said Dr. Winter recommended a Chili pad, which pumps cool water underneath the covers on his bed to help him sleep.

On the road, he’ll sometimes sleep until 2 p.m., right before the bus leaves from the team hotel for the ballpark. Andrew McCutchen often waits for the second bus, which leaves shortly after 3.

“That's pretty [taxing] on the body, getting in super late at night, having to get up the next day and do it all over again,” McCutchen said.

“It's one thing when you gain an hour but it's another thing if you lose one.”

PNC Park has a “regeneration” room, a dark, quiet area with recliners where players can relax or nap. The coaching staff helps by scheduling batting practice inside, in the cage, rather than on the field on days after a long night of travel.

“Look at the [Kansas City] Royals,” McCutchen said. “We played them three games, they didn't take one lick of batting practice when we played them, and I think they did pretty well.”

The Royals took two of three games from the Pirates.

Some take advantage of caffeine. Hughes doesn’t drink it at any other time of the year except during the season, where he’ll bring a Red Bull to the bullpen or grab some green tea in the clubhouse.

McCutchen wasn’t a coffee drinker, but his wife, Maria, makes a pot of black coffee every morning and has since turned him onto the stuff.

Stewart, who has two young children that occasionally wake him up in the middle of the night, doesn’t drink caffeine at all.

“I think once the game starts, your adrenaline kind of takes over and you don't really notice the difference,” Stewart said. “Once it ends, it kind of catches up to you and you can feel it again.”

• NOTES — Class A Bradenton outfielder Harold Ramirez was named the Florida State League player of the week. ... The Pirates promoted shortstop JaCoby Jones to Class AA Altoona. ... Steve Lombardozzi cleared waivers and was sent outright to Class AAA Indianapolis.