Sunday, July 27, 2025, 2:59AM | 
MENU
Advertisement
Starting pitcher Francisco Liriano should be back in the rotation this weekend.
1
MORE

Pirates notebook: Liriano to return, but rotation in flux before trading deadline

Gregory Bull/Associated Press

Pirates notebook: Liriano to return, but rotation in flux before trading deadline

ST. LOUIS -- Gerrit Cole is out, Francisco Liriano is in, but the Pirates' conundrum remains the same: What to do as the trade deadline approaches about a rotation that has a surplus of pitchers performing well, but also uncertainty about health?

Liriano will come off the disabled list, where he has spent a month because of a strained left oblique, and rejoin the rotation without making another rehab start, manager Clint Hurdle said Tuesday. Liriano cannot return until Saturday against the Reds in Cincinnati because he made a rehab outing Monday, pitching six scoreless innings and striking out eight without walking a batter for Class AAA Indianapolis.

"He got sharper as the game went on," Hurdle said. "Fastball velocity was good, 91-95. The changeup played, the breaking ball played."

Advertisement

Hurdle said the Pirates had not decided whether Liriano would pitch Saturday or Sunday. Charlie Morton's turn in the rotation comes Saturday and Vance Worley is on track for Sunday.

Third baseman Pedro Alvarez  fields a ground ball in the fourth inning Tuesday night in St. Louis.
Bill Brink
Late HR downs Pirates again

Cole will go on the DL because of what he has referred to as tightness in his right latissimus dorsi, or lat. Cole said he did not feel like himself in a bullpen session Monday at Busch Stadium after first feeling tightness in the lat in his previous start Friday.

"I was looking forward to pitching, but they just were really convincing in the fact that we need to look at the bigger picture," Cole said. "I was kind of out of options."

The lat issue is different from the shoulder fatigue that forced Cole to the DL in early June.

Advertisement

Hurdle said he does not think Cole's injury will require a lengthy recovery, but said Cole will need to make at least one rehab outing before returning. Hurdle also stressed the importance of ensuring Cole is fully healthy before coming back.

"We want to just keep him in a position where the understanding, when he comes back, it's an opportunity to thrive, not survive," Hurdle said. "Not navigate lineups. Pitch instinctively, not have a checklist before every pitch and a checklist after every pitch. Where he can go out and be the Gerrit Cole that we've seen in the past. I don't feel that's far away."

Liriano, Morton, Worley, Jeff Locke and Edinson Volquez will comprise the rotation when the Pirates resume play after the All-Star break with about two weeks remaining before the trade deadline. Entering Tuesday's game, the rotation had a 2.71 ERA in the past 30 days, second best in the National League behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"There's not a glowing hole for us, whether it's in the rotation or the bullpen or the position-player club," general manager Neal Huntington said Sunday before Cole was placed on the DL. "That doesn't mean we're not going to work to try to find a way to make ourselves better. When Liriano comes back, we're going to have a guy that probably deserves to be in a major league rotation not be in a major league rotation."

Huntington said the recent success of the rotation hasn't stopped the Pirates from communicating with other teams about trades.

Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.

First Published: July 9, 2014, 3:54 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
A huge Canadian flag carried by a crowd in Montreal in 1995, before a referendum on Quecec’s independence. Dennis Jett suggests Pennsylvania do the same in reverse.
1
opinion
Dennis Jett: Pennsylvania should become part of Canada
There is a large covered porch at the front of the house at 115 Forest Hills Road in Forest Hills.
2
life
Buying Here: Forest Hills home in its own 'mini-forest' listed for $425,000
New cornerback Jalen Ramsey (5) gets into position prior to a play during practice on the first day of Steelers Training Camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe Thursday, July 24, 2025.
3
sports
Steelers training camp observations: Jalen Ramsey-led defense comes out 'aggressive and angry'
Several houses are shown along N. Dallas Avenue near Penn Avenue in Point Breeze with “For Sale” signs in the front yard, Friday, March 21, 2025.
4
business
A cooling market and patient buyers are causing many Pittsburgh home sellers to cut their prices
A woman charged under the name Shannon Nicole Womack is accused of using fake names, fake references and fake credentials at staffing agencies to secure nursing jobs across Pennsylvania and beyond. Pennsylvania State Police urged health care providers across the state to check their records and study the woman’s photo to help identify other facilities she might have duped.
5
news
Pittsburgh 'fake nurse' linked to 5 more Pennsylvania facilities
Starting pitcher Francisco Liriano should be back in the rotation this weekend.  (Gregory Bull/Associated Press)
Gregory Bull/Associated Press
Advertisement
LATEST sports
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story