The Pittsburgh Pirates reinstated Carmen Mlodzinski from the restricted list Monday night, making the right-handed pitcher available for Tuesday’s series opener at the Houston Astros.
Mlodzinski was placed on the restricted list Sunday, when he informed the team that he wasn’t ready to pitch in the series finale against the Minnesota Twins at PNC Park after being moved to the bullpen last week to make room for Jared Jones in the starting rotation.
MLB players are not paid while on the restricted list, so Mlodzinski was docked a day’s salary. The Pirates recalled righty reliever Cam Sanders from Triple-A Indianapolis, and he had one strikeout in a scoreless seventh inning in the 9-3 win over the Twins on Sunday.
Mlodzinski was 4-3 with a 3.76 ERA in 11 appearances (nine starts) for the Pirates this season. He is expected to serve in what Pirates manager Don Kelly called a “high-leverage bulk” relief role, meaning he could cover multiple innings.
“I wanna do what’s best to help us win baseball games,” Mlodzinski told Jason Mackey of Pirates.com. “Being around these guys, this team, it’s a pretty cool group to be a part of. Of course I want to start and will always want that, but winning games takes precedence.”