Kevin Correia had been scheduled to start against Jake Westbrook and the Cardinals Saturday night, but now it looks like the Pirates will turn to new acquisition A.J. Burnett, who will make his Pirates debut.
Correia now can’t make the start due to “discomfort” in his left side. I’m not sure what that means, and I’m guessing the Pirates don’t yet either. Burnett, who had missed his first couple starts after taking a ball off his face in a bunting drill in Spring Training, had been scheduled to make a rehab start for Class AA Altoona Saturday night. The Bucs will have to make a roster move to find space for him; that might mean sending Correia to the disabled list.
Burnett has made three rehab starts this season and hasn’t pitched particularly well, allowing 11 earned runs and two home runs in 10.1 innings while striking out nine and walking six. If the Pirates are to do well this year, Burnett will probably be a big part of that, but there isn’t much evidence to suggest that he’s ready right now, and the Pirates wouldn’t be doing this if they didn’t have to. We’ll see what happens.
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