Kela to 60-day IL; Williams to return

MIAMI — Dario Agrazal making his big-league debut against the Miami Marlins Saturday caused a bit of a chain reaction for the Pirates. Dovydas Neverauskas was optioned to Class AAA Indianapolis to make room for Agrazal on the 25man roster.

Neverauskas has a 9.95 ERA but threw two scoreless innings Thursday against the Atlanta Braves.

Keone Kela was moved from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL to make room for Agrazal on the 40man roster. Kela has not pitched since May 6 when he left his outing with right shoulder inflammation.

“Keone began a throwing program Thursday in Bradenton [Fla.] and responded well,” Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomcyzk said via an email. “Based on the time down, he will need a period of time to be built back up for major league competition.”

Kela is eligible to come off of the IL July 5.

Good news

Trevor Williams is expected to start Wednesday against the Detroit Tigers at PNC Park and Jordan Lyles had a successful bullpen session Saturday in Miami.

“They both understand their importance to the rotation. They both understand coming back in a healthy and competitive mode as well,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “Short starts aren’t helping anybody. Jordan has been part of that and he understands how much that hamstrings the bullpen. He wants to put himself in the best position to go back and be the guy he was the first six weeks of the season. He doesn’t want to be the guy we saw the last two weeks or four starts touching the ball.”

“Trevor felt very strong about his rehab start. It gives him the confidence to believe that he can perform on Wednesday and give us the best chance to win.”

Lyles threw about 35 pitches in his bullpen session.

“Everything went well,” Lyles said. “We will probably assess it later today and tomorrow.

“We did two innings of work and I threw all of my pitches. We tried to make it as close to game-like as possible.”

It was the first time Lyles has been on the mound since June 10.

“It was great to get on the mound and be able to work on my craft. I think we can still make a run,” Lyles said. “The few weeks we haven’t done our job on the mound to help the offense. The offense has been carrying us lately. Once get guys back and get some more quality outings then we can start to string some wins together and a get back into it.”