Cubs reliever John Grabow has been sent to the disabled list with a bruised ego and broken fastball.

The lefty — with his whopping 9.45 ERA — has been playing with a bruised ego since picking up a loss April 7 against Atlanta. His fastball has been dinged up all season but finally broke Sunday when he gave up just three runs on a pair of homers in a 9-1 loss to St. Louis.

Manger Lou Piniella said he didn’t know when Grabow would return.

“Look, I like the young fella,” said Piniella. “But I can’t have him out there with that broken fastball. At this stage of his career, it might never recover.”

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