Kela dealing with right shoulder discomfort
PITTSBURGH -- Pirates reliever Keone Kela did not pitch during the Bucs’ 5-3, walk-off win over the A’s on Sunday afternoon at PNC Park after exiting Saturday night’s game due to right shoulder discomfort.
General manager Neal Huntington said Kela felt “a little tightness” in his throwing shoulder and had trouble getting his arm loose on Saturday. The Pirates planned to assess Kela on Sunday and on Monday’s off-day before re-evaluating his status.
Kela, who has dealt with shoulder issues in the past, gave up a double to A’s rookie Skye Bolt to begin the seventh inning in Saturday’s 6-4 win. Bolt hit Kela’s seventh pitch to right field, then Kela quickly waved toward the Pirates’ dugout to indicate he didn’t feel right.
Head athletic trainer Bryan Housand emerged from the dugout and checked on Kela, who walked to the dugout without throwing a warm-up pitch.
“Any time a pitcher doesn’t feel right, you’ve got to be aware of it,” Huntington said. “He’d thrown the ball so well his last handful of outings, and the velocity was back. Velocity was down the first couple pitches last night. Guys have stretches where they just don’t feel great, and he did the right thing last night.”
The setback comes at a frustrating time for Kela, who had bounced back after a rough start as Pittsburgh’s primary setup man for closer Felipe Vazquez. Kela allowed runs in five of his first eight outings, then put together five consecutive scoreless appearances before taking the mound on Saturday.
The Pirates did not make a roster move involving Kela on Sunday in part because they already loaded up their bullpen with multiple-inning relievers to prepare for Steven Brault and Nick Kingham coming out of the bullpen to start later this week.
Right-hander Kyle Crick has stepped into a high-leverage role since returning from the injured list, giving manager Clint Hurdle a reliable setup option in front of Vazquez.
Keller adds new pitch
Right-hander Mitch Keller, the Pirates’ top prospect, seemed like a logical candidate to join the rotation on Wednesday while the Bucs are without Jameson Taillon and Chris Archer. But Pittsburgh doesn’t want to rush Keller to the Majors, especially because he’s in the process of incorporating a new pitch into his arsenal.
Like Taillon a year ago, Keller added a cutter/slider to the mix -- a power offering in between his fastball and big, breaking curveball. Taillon introduced that pitch on the fly last season and took a significant step forward, so the Pirates want to give Keller time to make it work with Triple-A Indianapolis.
“With [Bryan] Reynolds and [Cole] Tucker up here, we’re out of our comfort zone enough with guys without a ton of Triple-A experience being up,” Huntington said. “In Reynolds’ case, he’s hit the ground running. In Cole’s case, he’s doing the very best he can. And both are great young men. Mitch is a great young man. The addition of the slider is going to cause us to be a bit more patient to let him lock this in and use it as a weapon.”
Huntington said Keller will be ready for the Majors and available as a rotation depth option “at some point.” They already pushed Reynolds, Tucker and Jason Martin up from Triple-A without much experience, but they didn’t feel like this was the moment to make the same move with Keller.
“It would be like bringing up a hitter when he’s in the middle of a mechanical change,” Huntington said. “Now is not the right time to do that. … We’ll show a willingness to do that in the right situation. Now is not the right time.”
Calling up Triple-A right-hander J.T. Brubaker, who is also on the Pirates’ 40-man roster, is not an option as he’s sidelined with a right forearm strain.