The Pittsburgh Pirates recalled infielder Kevin Kramer prior to Sunday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers. To make room on the active roster, right-handed pitcher Montana DuRapau was optioned to Indianapolis.
After Corey Dickerson went down last night with right groin discomfort, the Pirates didn’t want to go into an important game against the Brewers with a short bench. Kramer has been playing everywhere lately, seeing time at second base, third base, outfield, and he’s played some shortstop this season. He currently has a .270/.348/.413 slash line in 75 games at Indianapolis, but it’s an up year for offense in the league and he finished June with a .641 OPS in 28 games. He was called up earlier in the season, then went five days without getting into any games before being sent back to Indianapolis.
DuRapau pitched the ninth inning of yesterday’s 12-2 blowout game. While he didn’t throw a lot of pitches, he also pitched an inning on Friday in Indianapolis before being recalled, so he wouldn’t have been available to pitch today. With the All-Star break coming up tomorrow and DuRapau selected to the Triple-A All-Star game, there was no reason to keep him up with the Pirates for one day that he wasn’t available.
