CHICAGO — Jose Osuna is back with the Pirates and he hopes that this latest promotion is permanent. With three off-days in one week, the Pirates officially recalled Osuna from Triple-A Indianapolis Tuesday. The move preceded the team sending down Nick Kingham, leaving them with only four starting pitchers.
Reverting back to 12 pitchers and 13 position players could be temporary since the Pirates will need a fifth starter May 19 against the Padres; however, Clint Hurdle told reporters the team wants to see what Osuna can bring to the lineup. Osuna, starting at first base and batting eighth against the White Sox Tuesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field, was named the International League Player of the Month for April after having a second consecutive impressive spring training.
Now, he'll bolster an offense that has the Pirates only two games back of first place in the Central Division.
"It feels really good," Osuna said Tuesday afternoon. "I’m happy to be here. Maybe I can spend more time with the team, and I hope I can stay here for the rest of the season."
Osuna's previous promotion lasted only one day. He was recalled April 25 to serve as the 26th man for the second game of a doubleheader against the Tigers, and he hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat during the Pirates' 8-3 win. Osuna, 25, was sent back to Indianapolis the following day.
The 25-year-old entered today with an International League-leading 1.037 OPS, .628 slugging percentage and 12 doubles. He was also tied for the league lead with 15 extra-base hits, ranked third in batting average (.359) and fifth in total bases (49). Osuna has three home runs with eight walks to 13 strikeouts while spending most of his time at third base.
He played back-to-back games in right field over the weekend but has yet to play a game at first base — his primary position. Osuna told reporters he was disappointed when informed by the Pirates at the end of spring training he would not make the opening day roster.
After all, Osuna batted .327 with a team-high five home runs, 16 RBIs and a 1.044 OPS in Grapefruit League play, and he spent most of last season in the majors after an outstanding spring training. Osuna was recalled when Starling Marte was suspended and batted .233/.269/.428 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs in 215 at-bats.
"I think Jose learned last year he can have a good spring training, it didn’t fall his way," Hurdle said. "He worked hard and found his way up for the rest of the year. ... What he’s done is go down, hone his craft, work hard defensively, not miss his spot in the lineup when it’s come around and use the bat very well. He’s a grown man that’s looking for that extended opportunity to make an impact and help a team win games. We believe it's with us. We’ll see where this opportunity can take him and take us together."
With a two-game series against the White Sox, Osuna could serve as the designated hitter Wednesday, and he'll likely get an opportunity to start this weekend when the Giants are expected to have two left-handed starters: Derek Holland and Andrew Suarez.
Gregory Polanco is batting .207/.319/.421 in 32 games, including a .158 average against left-handers. Osuna, meanwhile, has batted .435 against left-handers in Triple-A. Hurdle said it wasn't easy to send Kingham back to Triple-A, though.
Kingham, 26, allowed four earned runs with 16 strikeouts to one walk in his two starts for the Pirates. He had a perfect game through 6 2/3 innings in his debut against the Cardinals, retiring 20 consecutive batters. Although he allowed a single in the seventh inning, he finished the outing with nine strikeouts to zero walks in seven scoreless innings.
He gave up four runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings against the Brewers on Friday, but Hurdle called it a “very good start.” Hurdle told Kingham during a 15-minute meeting Monday to not change his repertoire or approach.
"His debut makes it, ‘Whoa,’ then he wins the next game, so you’re thinking, ‘Wow, this is significant,’" Hurdle said. "It is. The fact he’s pushed it to this point and won two games while he was up here makes a difference. However, none of these four men have pitched their way off the club."
Ivan Nova, the Pirates' starter for the series opener against the White Sox, has a 1.22 WHIP and threw eight scoreless innings against the Tigers on April 26. Trevor Williams has four wins with a 2.63 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in seven starts. Jameson Taillon had a complete game shutout against the Reds on April 8, although opponents are batting .326 against him over his last five starts. Chad Kuhl had his best start of the season Sunday against the Brewers, pitching seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts.
The return of Joe Musgrove will also complicate the situation. Musgrove allowed one run in four innings of his rehab start with Double-A Altoona Monday and will make his next start with Indianapolis, Hurdle said. He's expected to be given a spot in the starting rotation upon being activated from the disabled list.
Hurdle didn't rule out Kingham rejoining the Pirates, though. Kingham's next scheduled day to start is tomorrow, which would put him in line to start for the Pirates against the Padres on May 19.
"Our intent is to send him down, have him pitch every fifth day and we’ll see what our schedule presents itself for another opportunity in the not-too-distant future if it works that way," Hurdle said.
• Musgrove threw 34 pitches for Altoona in a rehab start Monday night, but he needed to throw 31 additional pitches in the bullpen to continue getting stretched out. It was the second consecutive start where Musgrove was so efficient he needed to throw in the bullpen to reach his pitch count.
Hurdle said Musgrove is expected to make his next start with Triple-A Indianapolis and the plan is for Musgrove to throw an additional inning if he's that efficient again.
"I felt good today," Musgrove said Monday night. "They were swinging early. I feel like that's how it is with rehab starts. Guys usually want to ambush the [pitcher] and not get to two strikes and see the nasty stuff. I was really trying to use the fastball and get the fastball count up to build up arm strength. I felt like I was doing what I was trying to accomplish."
• Josh Harrison has started swinging a bat as he works his way back from breaking a bone in his left hand last month. Harrison, who is expected to be out until sometime next month, started running the bases last week and has been performing agility drills on the field before games.
"Yeah, as much as they allow me," Harrison said when asked if he's swinging a bat yet. "They monitor it and I work my way into free swings, gripping and slowly trying to increase things each day. It's progressing. The first day was tough trying to go over that mental hurdle. Definitely not comfortable but definitely not that bad. It's one of those things where it's definitely tough that first time because you never know what to expect. It's gotten better the more I've done it."
Harrison was batting .263 in 13 games this season with two doubles, one home run and five RBIs before a hit-by-pitch broke the bone below the pinkie on the outside of his left hand.