Doubleheaders generally mean that extra arms are brought up and this held true Tuesday as multiple sources tell Pittsburgh Sporting News that the Pittsburgh Pirates brought up Vance Worley in advance for both games today.
Worley was originally designated for assignment when the team acquired Joe Blanton from the Kansas City Royals. The team was in Cincinnati to play the Reds when this first happened and when he spoke with media, Worley did not appear pleased by the decision.
He was the odd man out when Charlie Morton became healthy enough to rejoin the rotation. In Spring Training, Worley stated he preferred to pitch in a starting role as opposed to long relief. The new role proved to be unpredictable and Worley received a lot of time down, something which frustrated him.
Upon speaking with reporters, Worley was professional and said the right things, however it was clear that he was unhappy.
He did go unclaimed by other teams and decided to stay with the team accepting a minor league assignment. In the minors, the team began to transition him back into a starting role allowing him to build up his pitch count for Triple-A Indianapolis.
In his time with the Pirates, Worley was 4-5 with a 3.78 ERA in 20 games, eight of which were starts. In his time with the Indians, Worley has been 3-1 with a 2.78 ERA in 34 innings. His last start for the Indians with Sept. 10 and he got the win allowing one unearned run on six hits in eight innings of work.
UPDATE: According to Rob Biertempfel of The Trib, Radhames Liz was in Clint Hurdle’s office and will be the corresponding move to get Worley on the roster.
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