PITTSBURGH — After suffering his fourth blown save of the season on Friday night, the Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan is likely not to be available from the bullpen on Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds.
Hanrahan hit Todd Frazier with a 98-mph heater with the bases loaded to tie the game at 3 before the Pirates went on to walk-off in the bottom of the 9th inning last night. But Hanrahan needed 31 pitches to escape the inning.
“We haven’t talked about it, but my gut would tell me no just because of the volume of pitches,” Manager Clint Hurdle said on if Joel would be available tonight.
Another arm from the ‘pen that Hurdle would like to stay away from is Jose Veras. The veteran righty is tied for second in the National League with 78 appearances this season –the most by a Pittsburgh reliever since Salomon Torres (04) and Matt Capps (85) in 2006.
“We wanted to try and stay away from him last night,“ Hurdle said. “My gut tells me 80 [appearances] is enough. But then part of me just says, ‘Get him to 80 and then shut him down.’ He has expressed a desire to pitch even after the season for the US team that is going to travel somewhere and play.”
“Eighty games is a lot.”
If there was a save situation tonight, Hurdle said that Jason Grilli or Veras could be called upon.
Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports
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