After strong outing, Pirates' Domingo German makes case for more starts

At the beginning of their Wednesday afternoon series finale against the Texas Rangers, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced starting pitchers for Aug. 22-25, when the Cincinnati Reds visit PNC Park for four games.

Paul Skenes will take the hill first Thursday, followed by Bailey Falter on Friday. Jake Woodford is slated to pitch Saturday, with Luis Ortiz completing the series on Sunday.

Beyond that is currently to be determined.

After he struck out 10 in five innings during his latest rehab start at Triple-A Indianapolis Tuesday, Jared Jones could be a candidate to start that following Monday, Aug. 26 vs. the Chicago Cubs.

Jones has now made three rehab starts with the Indians and appears to be closing in on returning to the Pirates after a right lat strain shut him down in early July.

Whether the Pirates choose to reactivate him as early as Monday remains to be seen.

Mitch Keller, fresh from a seven-inning shutout of Texas on Aug. 20, will be coming off five days of rest next Monday.

On the heels of a solid start Wednesday in Arlington, another option has emerged to slide into the starting rotation: Domingo German.

German made his first MLB start in over a year Wednesday, lasting six innings and allowing zero runs against the Rangers.

The 32-year-old, who spent six seasons with the New York Yankees, tossing the 24th perfect game in MLB history last June 29 while dealing with several off-the-field issues and suspensions, joined the Pirates as a minor-league free agent in March.

Called up to the big leagues Aug. 9, he made three relief outings prior to starting Wednesday.

While a small sample size, manager Derek Shelton liked what he saw, enough to suggest German could be assuming additional rotation duties in the near future.

“I think there’s a chance he could get more starts,” Shelton said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show after the Pirates lost 1-0. “I think we all know that we like to have six (starters). We’ll have to look at it and see where it’s at, but I could see him getting more starts.”

German had spent most of 2024 with Triple-A Indianapolis, for whom he made 13 starts, going 6-4 with a 5.29 ERA in 68 innings.

Since joining the Pirates, he has a 1.50 ERA in 12 innings with eight strikeouts and seven walks.

“It always feels good just to be able to come back and show my talent and what I can do in the big leagues,” German told reporters in Arlington through translator Stephen Morales, a Pirates assistant coach.

“For sure, rough times (are) behind me. But now it feels good to come back and do my thing.”

German is far from a power pitcher, with his four-seam fastball usually topping out at about 91 mph.

But mixed in with his curveball and changeup, German has the ability to be effective.

That said, lack of control has been an issue for German so far through a handful of appearances with the Pirates.

He walked four Wednedsay and in his previous outing Aug. 17, he walked one and hit two more batters.

“It’s the execution of the fastball,” Shelton said. “We’ve seen the (velocity) tick up a little bit from where he was at in Triple-A and he can mix and match off the changeup.”