Ke’Bryan Hayes is back in the starting lineup for the Pittsburgh Pirates, two days after exiting the season opener in the first inning with a muscle spasm that ran down his left thumb into his forearm.
Hayes, who agreed to a club-record eight-year, $70 million contract extension Thursday, will bat third and start at third base when the Pirates play the St. Louis Cardinals at 2:15 p.m. Saturday at Busch Stadium.
The Pirates also recalled right-handed pitcher Roansy Contreras from Triple-A Indianapolis and placed righty reliever Duane Underwood Jr. on the 10-day injured list. Underwood left the opener with a right hamstring strain (retroactive to April 8).
The 22-year-old Contreras is ranked as their No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline and the No. 80 prospect overall by Baseball America. He made his major league debut last Sept. 29, striking out four and walking one batter in three scoreless against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. In two Grapefruit League appearances this spring, Contreras allowed three runs on two hits — both home runs — and held hitters to a .182 batting average.
The Pirates acquired Contreras, along with infielder Maikol Escott, outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba and right-hander Miguel Yajure, from the New York Yankees in exchange for pitcher Jameson Taillon in January 2021. Contreras was 3-2 with a 2.65 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 12 starts for Double-A Altoona last season, and he struck out six in his one appearance for Indianapolis last season.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton said Contreras will first be used in a middle relief role, similar to Wil Crowe, Dillon Peters and Miguel Yajure, as the Pirates start a stretch of 16 consecutive days with a game and 22 in the next 23 days.
“Roansy is really important to us, and we’ll be very mindful of how he pitches and when he pitches,” Shelton told AT&T SportsNet before Saturday’s game. “One of the reasons we sent him down was because he needed to get stretched back out. We’re still going to make sure that we do that. We put him in a spot that he gets stretched out because we think he can be a very effective major league starter.”
