Pirates drop brutal reliever injury bomb, lose Isiah Kiner-Falefa in tough roster shuffle

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced a handful of roster moves Saturday afternoon ahead of that night's game against the San Diego Padres.

The Pirates have selected the contract of right-handed reliever Tanner Rainey from Triple-A Indianapolis, but the extra bullpen help will come at the expense of one of the Pirates' top bats. To clear space for Rainey on the 26-man active roster, the Pirates placed veteran infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain, retroactive to May 1.

To make room for Rainey on the 40-man roster, the Pirates also transferred fellow righty reliever Justin Lawrence to the 60-day injured list. Lawrence, whom the Pirates claimed off waivers from the Colorado Rockies during spring training, was placed on the 15-day IL with an elbow injury on April 24.

Pirates drop brutal Justin Lawrence injury bomb, lose Isiah Kiner-Falefa in tough roster shuffle

The loss of Lawrence is a big one for the Pirates' bullpen, as the 29-year-old had gotten off to a fantastic start this season with a 0.79 ERA through 11 1/3 innings of work. The hope is that Rainey and the rest of Pittsburgh's relief corps can pick up the slack.

The Pirates signed Rainey to a minor league deal in December after he was non-tendered by the Washington Nationals, where he had spent parts of the last six seasons. At the Major League level, he has a career 5.23 ERA with 236 strikeouts through 189 1/3 innings of work.

The Pirates will also have to manage without Kiner-Falefa, their everyday shortstop who is hitting .280/.333/.330 in 109 trips to the plate in his first 30 games of the season. For the time being, utility man Jared Triolo has been taking over at shortstop, but his .170/.200/.234 slash line at the plate leaves much to be desired.

The Pirates theoretically have Oneil Cruz as an option at shortstop, but that would likely be viewed as a last-resort move. Cruz has been working to improve as the Pirates' everyday center fielder, so don't expect to see him back in the infield unless the circumstances are particularly dire.

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