The Pirates announced that they’ve designated left-hander Tyler Lyons for assignment. His roster spot will go to right-handed reliever Montana DuRapau, whose previously reported promotion from Triple-A is now official. The Bucs have also recalled righty Clay Holmes, who’ll step into the vacancy created by the placement of Keone Kela on the 10-day injured list (right shoulder inflammation).
Lyons, 31, appeared in just three games for the Pirates, during which time he surrendered five runs on six hits and three walks with five punchouts in four innings of relief. His results dating back to the 2018 campaign are ugly, though they only span a total of 20 2/3 frames.
Prior to that stretch, Lyons enjoyed a three-year stint as a quality bullpen piece with the Cardinals, pitching to a combined 3.33 ERA with 9.7 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and 1.3 HR/9 over the life of 162 innings of bullpen duty. Lyons’ 2017 season was particularly impressive, featuring a career-best 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings pitched as well as a 2.83 ERA and 2.86 FIP to match. The Pirates had hoped he’d be able to round back into that form but apparently didn’t see enough promise in Lyons’ stuff to look past the ugly, small-sample results.
As noted yesterday at the time DuRapau’s promotion was reported, the 27-year-old righty is a former 32nd-round pick who has been lights out in Triple-A to open the season. Through his first 14 1/3 innings, he’s allowed one run on five hits and five walks with 18 strikeouts and a 46.2 percent ground-ball rate that marks a dramatic improvement over his previous ground-ball tendencies.