Keone Kela, the Pirates' closer and best trade chip for the upcoming trade deadline, exited early with forearm tightness in the ninth inning of Friday night's 7-2 win over the Brewers.
Kela was five pitches into his outing before being visited by manager Derek Shelton and head athletic trainer Brian Housand. After a short conversation, Shelton took the ball and Kela exited.
Shelton admitted postgame that he was "erring way on the side of safety" when pulling Kela.
"We've lost five relievers [to injuries this season]," Shelton said. "He's so important to us and he's just coming back to pitch. I didn't even really give him the option. When I got to the edge of the mound and he said, 'I tightened up a little bit' I just took the ball from him and said, 'OK.' "
Kela was not available for comment after the game.
The Pirates have lost five relief pitchers to injuries since the start of the regular season: Kyle Crick (right lat muscle sprain), Clay Holmes (right elbow sprain), Michael Feliz (right elbow sprain), Nick Burdi (right elbow sprain) and Yacksel Rios (right shoulder inflammation). Across the league, pitcher injuries are significantly up.
Holmes, Feliz and Burdi are out for the season. Crick threw a live bullpen session Friday and seems to be close to returning.
While he missed all of summer camp with COVID-19, Kela was able to keep throwing and was activated off the injured list on Aug. 13. Friday was his third appearance of the season. He has allowed one run over two innings pitched this year, striking out three.
Kela is set to become a free agent at the end of the season, so he was perhaps the Pirates' most obvious trade chip. The deadline is on Aug. 31 this year. General manager Ben Cherington said Friday afternoon that he believes the Pirates will be "real active in conversations" before the deadline and signaling that nobody on the team is off the table.
More to come.
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