Coke joins Bucs as Schugel shut down

PITTSBURGH — The Pirates shut down reliever A.J. Schugel on Friday, sending him to the 60-day disabled list with a right shoulder injury. The transaction made room on the roster for left-hander Phil Coke, who joined the club Friday after being traded by the Yankees a day earlier.

Coke will pitch out of the bullpen, capable of being a long reliever or lefty specialist. The Bucs have leaned heavily on their relievers this month, wearing down a group already thinned out by injuries (Schugel and Neftali Feliz) and a number of Triple-A starters not used to pitching on consecutive days.

Schugel had not pitched since Aug. 30. The rookie right-hander put together a 3.63 ERA in 52 innings over 36 appearances for the Pirates this season.

“We had volume out there for a while. We didn’t have availability,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “Now we’ve got a little more availability. That’s why we brought [Coke] in.”

Coke joined the Pirates after pitching all the way to the Triple-A championship game with the Yankees’ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre affiliate. After catching an early flight back to Philadelphia the next day, Coke took a bus to …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com