The Pittsburgh Pirates designated Deolis Guerra for assignment making Joakim Soria able to come onto the major league roster.
Soria was acquired by the Pirates from the Detroit Tigers Thursday.
Guerra appeared in 10 games and pitched 16.2 innings while posting a 2-0 record. His -0.4 WAR and 6.48 ERA were largely due to a 9.26 ERA in July.
Prior to Guerra’s call-up, he was in the minor leagues for nine seasons. His changeup was his biggest pitch and he showcased it in his first appearance pitching the ninth inning and allowing no runs in an 8-4 victory against the Atlanta Braves.
He earned his first career major league victory pitching three innings June 30 against the Detroit Tigers. The Pirates won the road contest in 14 innings.
After earning his second win of the season against the San Diego Padres, Guerra them allowed a run July 11 against the St. Louis Cardinals the first of his major league career. He pitched three innings and his ERA went to 0.90.
Guerra then allowed two runs in his next appearance against the Milwaukee Brewers in two innings of work.
On July 22, Guerra earned his fifth and final shutout appearance despite allowing two hits over an inning against the Kansas City Royals. His ERA at the time was 2.08.
July 25 saw Guerra allow two runs in 1.1 innings in a 9-3 loss to the Washington Nationals. This continued July 29 when he allowed a run on two hits in an inning against the Minnesota Twins.
Guerra’s final outing came Thursday against the Cincinnati Reds. He allowed six runs on seven hits in 1.1 innings. The damage came on two Brandon Phillips home runs. He threw 64 pitches in his appearance.
With such a high pitch count, Guerra likely would have been down for a few days which made the decision to DFA him a more clear cut decision for him.
Soria is expected to join Jared Hughes in building up to the Tony Watson and Mark Melancon combination in the eighth and ninth innings.
Of note: Gorkys Hernandez has been outrighted to the Pirates Triple-A affiliate Indianapolis Indians. Hernandez [shoulder] was eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list. He went 0-for-5 in eight games and was largely used as a pinch-runner or late inning defensive replacement.
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