Luis Ortiz made a dazzling debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates by touching 100 mph six times, but as the 29th man for a doubleheader had to be returned to Triple-A Indianapolis for 15 days unless there was an injury.
That opening happened Sunday when the Pirates placed right-hander JT Brubaker on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to Sept. 16) with right arm inflammation, three days after he left Thursday’s start at the New York Mets after three innings.
The Pirates recalled Ortiz, 23, a right-handed flamethrower who allowed one hit in 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a 1-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds. The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Ortiz joined Gerrit Cole as the only Pirates starting pitchers to touch triple digits since pitch speed data started being tracked in 2008. (Cole did it eight times against the Angels on June 21, 2013).
Ortiz averaged 99.0 mph on 53 four-seam fastballs and topped 99 26 times in the game while becoming the second Pirates pitcher to throw 5 2/3 or more shutout innings with one or fewer hits in his debut. (Nick Kingham threw seven scoreless with one hit against St. Louis on April 29, 2018).
Brubaker leads the Pirates with 27 starts, going 3-12 with a 4.58 ERA and 1.46 WHIP in 141 1/3 innings. His 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings leads all Pirates starting pitchers.
