Following Monday afternoon’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle announced that A.J. Burnett will return to pitch for the team Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Hurdle laid out the rotation for assembled media and this was later confirmed by the Pirates.
Francisco Liriano and J.A. Happ will throw as scheduled in the remaining two games against the Reds and Burnett will follow along with Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke.
This news means a few things.
The first is that Burnett will return slightly earlier than the projection as the Pirates face the Brewers Sept. 10. Burnett told reporters following his bullpen outing Sunday that he had felt ready to go for the past week or two and also that the mid-September return was just a timetable as he could always return before or after that date.
Burnett [right elbow inflammation], has been with the team since going on the disabled list July 31 and remarked during the last homestand that he felt good, more so than when he felt the injury in Cincinnati.
This announced rotation was noticeably missing Gerrit Cole’s name. This was intentional and something Hurdle stated was mapped out for the past couple of weeks. Due to Cole’s injury last season, he did not get a full season and with that the Pirates felt it was best to skip a start and not overdue it on innings. Cole has thrown 180.2 innings, by far his highest total in the major leagues, so this gives the Pirates a chance to push the pause button.
A third result of this news is that Jeff Locke has not made his last start this season. On Monday, Locke allowed three runs, however just one of those were earned as the Pirates had four errors in the contest.
This also means that no one has officially been removed from the Pirates starting rotation at this time.
The timing of this was strategic as the Pirates will have a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs Sept. 15 and this gives Burnett the proper amount of days off to make his next start on time.
In theory, the Pirates could start both Burnett and Cole in the doubleheader.
Photo courtesy: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images
