The Pittsburgh Pirates made a roster move to shake up their bullpen Friday, recalling right-hander Kyle Nicolas and optioning Ryder Ryan to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Nicolas appeared in four games for the Pirates last season, allowing seven runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and four walks in 5 ⅓ innings. He has an 0.84 ERA and 1.03 WHIP with 13 strikeouts and nine walks in 10 ⅔ innings over nine appearances at Indianapolis this season.
With Colin Holderman starting the season on the 15-day injured list, Ryan made the Opening Day roster. The sinkerballer was 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, 13 strikeouts and five walks in 12 innings over nine games this season, holding opponents to a .190 batting average.
He pitched 1 ⅔ scoreless innings in Thursday’s 7-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, allowing two walks with one strikeout. It was his fifth appearance since being recalled from Indianapolis on April 14, as Ryan allowed one unearned run on two hits, three walks and one hit batsman with seven strikeouts in that span.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.