The Pirates expect Kirby Yates back sooner rather than later, and general manager Ben Cherington isn’t sounding alarmed about the right-hander’s latest setback.
Yates landed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Aug. 31, with right shoulder impingement, which puts him in line to return on Sept. 15. That date comes just ahead of Pittsburgh’s final homestand, and Cherington said the club believes Yates should be ready to rejoin the bullpen around then.
“We’re certainly hopeful," Cherington said. "I think, our anticipation right now is we’re going to see him active again, hopefully not too long, right around his eligibility date.
That’s our hope. We’ll see how he progresses.
“This is just one where, when you have a guy like Kirby, who’s been pitching as long and as effectively as he has, if you open their arms up, you’re going to find stuff. That’s just the nature of pitching in the major leagues for as long as he has.
"Every once in a while, and he’s really avoided issues remarkably well over the course of his career. He really hasn’t spent much time on the IL, or at with least shoulder, hasn’t really had that, but every once in a while, all that stuff that accumulates over 25 years of pitching fires up, where it’s just, alright, we got to let this thing calm down a little bit..."
Pittsburgh acquired Yates at the Aug. 4 deadline from the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Kyle Robinson, and the move paid off quickly. The 39-year-old posted a 2.19 ERA across 13 appearances and 12.1 innings, striking out 11 while walking five. He also allowed a .239 batting average and carried a 1.30 WHIP.
He gave the Pirates a few memorable moments too, including a tense escape from a bases-loaded jam in the 11th inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Aug. 24. Pittsburgh went on to win that game 3-2 in 12 innings.
The injury popped up two days later against San Diego, when Yates threw 35 pitches, including an 11-pitch battle with center fielder Jackson Merrill that ended in a walk. It was the most pitches he had thrown in an at-bat since June 6, 2018, when he threw 37 pitches at age 31.
Cherington said Yates didn’t bounce back the way the team wanted, so Pittsburgh backed off and gave him time to recover before the issue worsened.
“He had an outing, I think it was against the Padres where just the pitch count got up and it was just one of those circumstances where it was a really long at-bat, forced the pitch count up and didn’t recover as well coming off that.
"It just got to a point where it felt like, “Let’s let this thing calm down.” We fully anticipate and hope that he’s back active and healthy before long.”
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