Just when the starting rotation appeared to be set for the start of the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates were dealt a major blow.
Manager Derek Shelton said that right-hander JT Brubaker, who led the team in strikeouts last season, is likely to begin the season on the injured list with soreness in his right elbow and forearm.
Brubaker was scheduled to start Monday against the Minnesota Twins. Instead, the Pirates turned to veteran left-hander Rich Hill, who allowed seven earned runs in an 8-4 loss at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.
The 29-year-old Brubaker, who is 9-28 with a 4.99 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 61 starts over three major league seasons, appeared poised for a breakthrough year. His 26 strikeouts in five starts this spring led the Pirates and trailed only Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees among pitchers in the Grapefruit League.
This isn’t Brubaker’s first brush with arm trouble. He was the Pirates’ minor league pitcher of the year in 2018 but missed most of the following season when he was shut down because of a sore forearm.
With Brubaker out, 25-year-old right-hander Johan Oviedo is the likely replacement in a starting rotation that features Hill, Opening Day starter Mitch Keller, Roansy Contreras and Vince Velasquez.
Oviedo was 2-2 with a 3.23 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 30 2/3 innings over seven starts for the Pirates last season after being acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in the Jose Quintana trade. Oviedo is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 14 2/3 innings over five Grapefruit League games, including three starts, with 17 strikeouts and seven walks.
That Hill got hammered by the Twins didn’t help matters. The 43-year-old gave up 11 hits, including two home runs, while throwing 62 of his 83 pitches for strikes in 4 2/3 innings.
The Twins scored five runs off Hill in the second inning, as he gave up three consecutive singles to start. Edouard Julien’s single scored Trevor Larnach for a 1-0 lead and Hernan Perez followed with a three-run homer to right to make it 4-0. Jose Miranda added an opposite-field double and scored on Max Kepler’s single for a 5-0 lead.
Donovan Solano hit a two-run homer in the third to stretch the Twins’ lead to 7-0. The Pirates scored in the fourth, when Ke’Bryan Hayes singled, advanced to third on a Canaan Smith-Njigba single and scored on Jason Delay’s single to left. Miranda doubled off Chase De Jong to drive in Perez in the sixth for an 8-1 lead. The Pirates cut it to 8-4 on Maikol Escotto’s three-run homer in the ninth.
