The Pittsburgh Pirates placed rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin on the 10-day injured list Sunday to allow his strained right elbow time to heal.
Griffin, 20, served as the Pirates’ designated hitter the last two days to keep his bat in the lineup while limiting his throwing, but the team decided that wasn’t enough to prevent an IL stint.
He went 4-for-9 with a double and a run scored in two victories over Minnesota on Friday and Saturday.
After a slow start to his first major league season, Griffin has boosted his slash line to .270/.327/.402 with four homers and 14 stolen bases in 51 games.
To replace Griffin on the 26-man roster, the Pirates activated 1B/OF Ryan O’Hearn from the injured list. O’Hearn produced a .289/.368/.459 slash line with seven homers and 29 RBI over 44 games before hitting the IL with a right quad strain.
Pittsburgh also made a switch with its pitchers. Carmen Mlodzinski, who was moved out of the rotation this week to make room for Jared Jones, was placed on the restricted list while right-handed reliever Cam Sanders came up from Triple-A Indianapolis.
Mlodzinski, 27, has fashioned a 4-3 record and 3.76 ERA in 11 appearances (nine starts) this season. He racked up 46 strikeouts and 20 walks in 55 innings.
Sanders made five relief appearances for the Pirates early this season and surrendered six runs, six hits and five walks over five innings (10.80 ERA). The 29-year-old has fared better in Triple-A with a 3.77 ERA and 25 strikeouts over 14 1/3 innings.
