Max Mania barely lasted 24 hours.
About 20 minutes after Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton said Monday he and general manager Ben Cherington were “working through” Max Kranick’s immediate future, he was optioned back to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Kranick’s perfect record — 1-0, 0.00 ERA and 0.000 WHIP in his major league debut Sunday in St. Louis —remains intact while the Pirates haven’t revealed their plans for a sixth starter. Kranick could be recalled, although the Pirates must wait at least 15 days to do so.
Right-handed pitcher Cody Ponce was recalled to take Kranick’s roster spot and bolster the bullpen while the Pirates are playing 20 games in 20 days. Ponce started one game for the Pirates this season, allowing nine hits (two homers) and four runs in five innings in a 4-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
Manager Derek Shelton explained the reasoning behind sending Kranick back to Indianapolis.
“He’s going to go back to Indy and get another start. He did a good job,” Shelton said after the 2-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies. “We wanted another bullpen arm. Ponce will be in the bullpen here, just especially coming into Colorado and then the fact that (Duane) Underwood threw three innings (Sunday), so we had to make sure that we had some length covered.”
Cherington said Sunday that the team will use a six-man rotation through the All-Star break. After Tyler Anderson, Chase De Jong and Chad Kuhl face the Rockies through Wednesday, that leaves J.T. Brubaker and Wil Crowe for the rotation. The identity of the sixth starter remains a mystery.
Steven Brault (left lat strain) and Trevor Cahill (left calf strain) are on the injured list. Mitch Keller still is in Indianapolis trying to regain his command.
Indianapolis pitcher Miguel Yajure, who made two starts for the Pirates on April 21 and May 14, is on the Indians’ 60-day injury list with a sore forearm.
Shelton said he likes the six-man rotation because it reduces the workload on the starters and gives opportunities to others.
He is mindful the Pirates played only 60 games last season and already have played 77.
“I think the six-man is good for us, especially going into the All-Star break, with the fact that we’re getting towards (past) workload levels because of the 60-game season,” he said. “So, we need to keep guys fresh.
“It will provide the opportunity for us to get looks at guys like we did with Kranick and like we’ve done with Yajure and with other people.”
Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jerry by email at jdipaola@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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Max Kranick sent back to Triple-A Indianapolis; Cody Ponce recalled to help bullpen - TribLIVE
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