Cherington noted that after Keller’s last start vs. the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Bank Park on Aug. 2, and that they got the MRI, which showed them what they had to do for their pitching staff going forward.<\/p>\n
![\"Pittsburgh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01kz5e329grw6j44fkhs.jpg\" "\\"Pittsburgh")
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Aug 2, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller (23) pitches against the Cincinnati Reds in the third inning at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
He also said that Keller didn’t report pain prior to this most recent start and that it makes sense why Kelly struggled, giving up seven runs and two home runs, while not getting an out in the third inning before departing.<\/p>\n
“Want Donny to address that last part. Up to him exactly how we handle that going forward,” Cherington said. “We did have, we had a decent idea with Mitch yesterday postgame after he came out, a little bit of information. <\/p>\n
“Got more information today once we had the MRI. So early enough in the day it was pretty clear what was going on and now we’ve just got to work with Mitch to get past this and get healthy and get into a really good offseason, which we’re confident he’ll do. <\/p>\n
“We did have that information and that was important for us to have it early enough in the day that we could do something about it potentially. It was a layer, certainly, in how we approached the latter half of today, just wanting to add as much depth as we possibly could and give us and give Donny as many options as possible to fill out those innings.”<\/p>\n
Where Pirates Added Instead<\/p>\n
The Pirates were already aiming for bullpen additions, landing New York Yankees right-handed relief pitcher Camilo Doval<\/a> on Aug. 1, and did so again at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh traded for three right-handed pitchers in Lake Bachar of the Miami Marlins, Luke Weaver<\/a> of the New York Mets and Kirby Yates<\/a> of the Los Angeles Angels.<\/p>\n Jul 3, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Miami Marlins pitcher Lake Bachar (84) throws a pitch against the Athletics during the seventh inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n All four pitchers will need to play a big part in the Pirates bullpen, mostly in high-leverage and in the case of Bachar, a multi-inning role<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cherington said that they looked at adding starting pitching, but the cost for that was too much and that adding more relief pitchers allows the Pirates to use their younger pitchers in either longer bulk roles or as a starter moving forward. <\/p>\n “Yeah. We looked at that also and considered that and talked about all kinds of things that potentially would have brought that kind of thing back,” Cherington said. “Didn’t ultimately feel like those made sense in terms of what it would have cost us. <\/p>\n “But we feel with the number of pitchers we added, that maybe in indirect ways we’ve also added some depth back, whether it’s traditional starting depth or at least bulk depth back to the group that will help us in that regard. Whether it’s literally guys added to the team or how we might be able to deploy other pitchers who are already here. We’ll see. That’ll be determined or we’ll see how that all shakes out. But certainly considered it but ultimately the deals we made were the ones we believed in.”<\/p>\n![\"Miami](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01kz5eepcwdb47ytcdde.jpg\" "\\"Miami")
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