The Pittsburgh Pirates recalled pitcher Miguel Yajure ahead of Monday’s game in Washington, and he will make the start tonight. To make room on the 26-man roster, lefty reliever Anthony Banda was designated for assignment. The Pirates also brought back Josh VanMeter from the injured list. They optioned outfielder Cal Mitchell to Indianapolis to open up a roster spot. In addition, Heath Hembree was released and Jason Delay was added to the taxi squad. Hembree was DFA’d last week.
Yajure hasn’t pitched much this year between his bullpen role early on for the Pirates, along with an injury that kept him out of action briefly this year twice. He gave up 13 runs in 10.1 innings with the Pirates over six games, and he has a 4.26 ERA in 12.2 innings with Triple-A Indianapolis, making five starts and one relief appearance.
Banda had a 6.41 ERA and a 1.98 WHIP in 19.2 innings over 23 appearances this year. He faltered yesterday by allowing two runs and all four batters reached against him, but he was coming off of three outings in which he tossed five shutout innings on two hits and no walks.
VanMeter has been in Indianapolis on rehab from a fractured finger earlier this month. He hit .111/.273/.111 in five games. He was hitting .214/.280/.357 in 35 games before the injury.
Mitchell was getting his first big league trial and he struggled after a nice start. He hit .193/.227/.325 in 88 plate appearances. At the time of his call up, he was the leading hitter for Indianapolis.
