The Pittsburgh Pirates made five roster moves prior to Saturday’s game with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Right-handed pitchers Rookie Davis and Dovydas Neverauskas have been added to the roster. Michael Feliz has been optioned to Indianapolis, while Chris Stratton was placed on the injured list with right side discomfort.
Davis was scheduled to pitch tonight in Indianapolis, so he gives the Pirates someone to save the bullpen if it’s needed tonight. He’s coming off of one run over seven innings in his last start and he’s thrown as many as 99 pitches in a game this season. Davis has prior MLB experience as well, throwing 24 innings for the 2017 Cincinnati Reds. He’s 26 years old, with a 5.35 ERA, a 1.51 WHIP and 27 strikeouts in 37 innings this season.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Davis, Lonnie Chisenhall was moved to the 60-day injured list. That’s not an issue because he’s currently away from Indianapolis due to personal reasons and he won’t be ready to return once he does come back, since he will still need to go through rehab games. Chisenhall has also been on the injured list since the start of the season, which was 59 days ago.
Neverauskas has pitched well since being sent down earlier this month by the Pirates, but he hasn’t been able to translate that success to the majors in multiple trials. He will get another shot again, though his time may be brief. Keone Kela is beginning a rehab assignment with Indianapolis tonight and since he hasn’t been out long and he pitched a simulated game at PNC Park already, it could be a very quick rehab assignment.
Stratton was injured last night throwing a pitch in his only inning of work, while Feliz was used as a starter and wouldn’t be available for tonight. Along with not pitching well overall with the Pirates, Feliz was a likely candidate to go down for reinforcements in the bullpen.
One other note and that’s Altoona right-handed pitcher Pedro Vasquez was called up to Indianapolis to replace Davis in tonight’s starting role. Vasquez was originally scheduled to start this afternoon for the Curve.
