Moments before the first pitch of Paul Skenes’ third MLB start in Thursday’s series finale against the San Francisco Giants, the Pittsburgh Pirates demoted outfielder Jack Suwinski to Triple-A Indianapolis.

In a corresponding transaction, left-handed reliever Jose Hernandez was recalled from the Indians.

Suwinski is batting .174 through 49 games with an on-base percentage of .268.

The 25-year-old Suwinski has four homers with 13 RBIs but has struck out 40 times.

“We’ve seen Jack perform at the major-league level, and this year I think he got in between a lot,” said manager Derek Shelton. “He got off the fastball. Jack’s a big part of what we’re gonna do here, so we need to get him going. It’s important for him to get going.”

Thursday’s optioning to Triple-A marks a disappointing road bump in the young career of Suwinski, who hit a team-high and career-best 26 homers with 74 RBIs in 2023.

As a rookie in 2022, Suwinski hit 19 home runs in 106 games, splitting time between the big leagues and Triple-A.

Hernandez offers some needed reinforcement to a Pirates bullpen that’s been heavily used of late.

Hernandez, 26, was 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA in six appearances with Pittsburgh before he was optioned to Indianapolis in mid-April.

While with the Indians, he was less sharp, posting a 7.62 ERA over 13 innings, with 19 strikeouts.

But he does notably become the only other lefty reliever at Shelton’s disposal other than Aroldis Chapman.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)