Pittsburgh

Pirates

With Endy Rodriguez (hip) headed to the injured list, the Pirates will simply use Rafael Flores Jr. as their backup catcher, so they can call up Brannigan as a reserve infielder. He has hit .217/.324/.447 with 14 home runs in 69 Triple-A games this season.

Mattson was only in Triple-A for 11 days. He’ll return to a 4.93 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, and a 33/16 K/BB ratio over 34 2/3 innings in 36 appearances with the Pirates this season.

Sisk was activated from the injured list a little over a week ago and has allowed a run in each of his last three outings. This may just be a brief reset for the 29-year-old.

Sadly, injuries are becoming far too prevalent in Rodríguez’s career. The 26-year-old has produced when healthy for the Pirates this season, but this is now his third stint on the injured list this year, following previous injury-plagued seasons. There is no timeline for his return right now.

Gonzales has just not stopped hitting. Two more knocks here raised his batting average to .307 which is the fifth-highest mark in the entire league. That hasn’t come with much power – Gonzales only has six home runs and his .093 ISO is fifth-lowest in the league – but that high average makes him an asset in many leagues.

Moving Mlodzinski back into the rotation has not gone well so far. The Marlins were on him from the start with two hard-hit balls to begin the game and of the 11 total balls they put in play, eight were hit harder than 95 mph. He also hasn’t thrown more than three innings since June 10th. There’s no league where he should be a factor at the moment.

Rodriguez is going to miss his fourth straight game — assuming he doesn’t enter off the bench — while dealing with left hip discomfort. Henry Davis will continue to work behind the plate while Rodriguez isn’t available.

Nothing was said about Skenes’ status immediately after the game, but his velocity was down some tonight and he departed after just 65 pitches. That turned out to be a good call by the Pirates, as Yohan Ramírez pitched three hitless innings with five strikeouts after taking over. Skenes struck out four while averaging 95.7 mph with his fastball. Even his hardest heater of the night, at 96.5 mph, fell shy of his season average of 96.9 mph. He allowed just the one earned run on Esteury Ruiz’s homer, but he gave up eight hard-hit balls, including a potential second homer from Griffin Conine that was brought back by Bryan Reynolds in left field. Skenes fell to 9-11 with a 3.88 ERA. He’s due to face the Red Sox on Sunday.

Gonzales is 6-for-38 with no walks this month. He’s still hitting .304, but it’s a rather empty .304, what with his six homers and 28 walks in 474 plate appearances, and it’s come with poor defense at third. He’s not coming out of the Pirates lineup, but he’s just not helping right now.

The Pirates decided to extend Cruz’s rehab assignment after he was reevaluated earlier this week. The 27-year-old center fielder is working his way back from multiple non-displaced fractures in his left hand that sent him to the injured list in early June. There’s a decent chance he’s ready to return to Pittsburgh’s lineup later this week.