With the overwork of the bullpen in recent Pirates’ series, Deolis Guerra has been promoted from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh, according to several reports out of Latin America on Twitter, and online.
Guerra has been strong out of the Indianapolis bullpen this season, allowing only six runs all season, with four coming in one appearance early in the season. This includes 11 straight scoreless appearances. He also has a 37 to 8 strikeout to walk ratio.
Guerra points to the success this year as having new found command to his off speed pitches. Mixing this with working with several different speeds, He has been able to keep hitters off-balance and avoid solid contact most of the season.
The move has not been announced by the Pirates and a corresponding roster move has yet to be announced.
Update 5:10 PM: The Pirates have made it official. Rob Scahill was placed on the disabled list with right forearm tightness and Guerra takes his place on the active roster. To make room on the 40-man roster, Andrew Lambo was moved moved to the 60-day DL. That won’t have any effect on Lambo, who has already missed close to 60 days and isn’t about to come back.
Scahill has a 2.08 ERA in 26 innings over 24 appearances, but he has allowed 27 hits and 12 walks, so the ERA doesn’t match the performance. Batters have a .929 OPS against Scahill when he faces them with runners in scoring position.
UPDATE 6:09 PM, by Nate Barnes:
Deolis Guerra arrived in Pittsburgh and went through some pre-game work. He’s available tonight if he’s so needed.
Guerra said he found out about his promotion early this morning as the Indians returned from a road trip.
“I was surprised,” Guerra said. “I wasn’t expecting it and I’m just happy to be here.”
Guerra is in his 10th season playing professional baseball, but Friday’s call-up marked the first time he joined a major-league team.
“It’s such a great feeling just to know that when you work and never put your head down, there’s always a chance and there’s always something to work for,” Guerra said. “At the end it pays off.”