While the Pittsburgh Pirates are in California this week to play the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s, injured pitchers Marco Gonzales and Ryan Borucki will meet with new doctors there to get further information on their situations, general manager Ben Cherington said Sunday.
Gonzales, who has made three starts with a 2.65 ERA this season, has been on the 15-day injured list since April 14 with left forearm muscle strain. Borucki, a relief pitcher, appeared in four games with a 5.40 ERA before he went on the IL with left triceps inflammation (retroactive to April 6).
“Marco so far has been trending as expected. He’s feeling better,” Cherington said on his radio show on 93.7 FM. “They are both going to get another check-up in California this week. We’ll know a little bit more after that. Both of those appointments were really mostly for confirmation of what we think is going on and, hopefully, a little bit of peace of mind from that.
“The information we have about (Gonzales’) injury is that it’s isolated to the flexor, the forearm. There’s no ligament involvement, and his elbow looks good. We just have to let symptoms calm down. It’s an opportunity for Marco to get another set of eyes and ears on that.”
Cherington described Borucki’s injury as “pretty benign.”
“It’s in an area that’s up in the tricep, which is a little less common. We’re trying to get to the bottom of exactly what’s going on. All the information we have suggests this is something he should recover from and be able to pitch a lot in 2024. We just want to get that extra layer of information so that we can be best informed with him and Marco.
“We remain optimistic about both guys that they’re going to be in a position to contribute for us in 2024.”
