Harrington roughed up by Rays

When Paul Skenes made his MLB debut last May, the Pittsburgh Pirates knew that coming up behind him was another wave of promising pitching prospects inching closer to the big leagues in Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington.

Less than a week into the regular season, Harrington became the first of the three, all of whom are ranked by MLB Pipeline as top 10 prospects in the Pirates’ system, to make his major-league debut.

Harrington, the Pirates’ No. 3 prospect, chosen 36th overall by the club in the 2022 MLB Draft, was called up Tuesday to start against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Facing Shane Baz, a 2017 firstround pick by the Pirates, Harrington pitched four innings, allowing six earned runs in a 7-0 defeat.

The 23-year-old Harrington, who was charged with the loss, gave up seven hits, walked four and struck out a pair while throwing 54 of his 90 pitches for strikes.

Offensively, it was another quiet night for the Pirates.

Baz (1-0) delivered six scoreless innings, allowing seven hits while striking out a career-high 10.

The Pirates struck out 15 times in total, managing nine hits, zero of which were for extra-bases.

Before Harrington had a moment to soak in his MLB debut, the Rays had a man aboard in the bottom of the first, as Yandy Diaz singled on the first pitch Harrington threw.

Harrington then walked Brandon Lowe on seven pitches before Junior Caminero advanced both runners with a flyout.

Then, the red-hot Jake Mangum, who was 4 for 4 Monday against the Pirates (1-5), put the Rays up 2-0 with an RBI double into left field.

Mangum soon came around to score via a Kameron Misner RBI single, making it 3-0 Tampa Bay.

Harrington walked another before the end of the frame, but on his 30th pitch, he escaped the bottom of the first, striking out Taylor Walls.

After rebounding with a 12-pitch second inning, the Rays took a 4-0 lead in the third off a Misner sacrifice fly, plating Mangum, who got aboard with an infield single.

Mangum had advanced to second when Harrington walked Curtis Mead and took third on a wild pitch. In the fourth, the Rays went up 6-0 courtesy of a two-run homer by Lowe.

The Pirates’ offensive struggles this season continued Tuesday, as they offered Harrington zero run support.

An inning-ending double play by Tommy Pham in the fourth spoiled back-to-back hits by Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz.

In the fifth, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Jared Triolo got aboard, but the Pirates were unable to bring either of them around to score.

Following Harrington’s exit, Justin Lawrence, Caleb Ferguson and Joey Wentz threw scoreless innings in relief.

The Rays added a final run in the eighth off Dennis Santana to take a 7-0 lead.

Bednar sent to Triple-A, Delay DFA’d

Pittsburgh Pirates closer David Bednar was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis on Tuesday after three rough outings to begin the season.

The move cleared a spot on the 26man active roster for right-hander Thomas Harrington, the team’s No. 3 prospect who was recalled from Triple-A to start against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.

In addition, catcher Jason Delay was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Bednar, 30, has an ERA of 27.00 through three games, including two losses plus a blown save in the Pirates’ season-opening series against Miami.

The struggles of Bednar, a Mars native and two-time All-Star, date to last year and constitute a significant fall from grace.

After strong 2022 and 2023 campaigns, which saw him ascend to the closer’s role and become one of the best high-leverage relievers in baseball, Bednar went 3-8 with a 5.77 ERA in 62 games in 2024, recording 23 saves in 30 tries.

Bednar’s seven blown saves last year equaled that of 2022 and 2023 combined, when he converted 58 of 65 saves.

In the offseason, Bednar avoided arbitration and signed a one-year, $5.9 million contract with the Pirates through this season.

Delay has spent parts of the last three seasons with the Pirates dating to 2022 and was in the mix this spring for the backup catcher’s role, which ultimately went to Endy Rodriguez.

Before being designated for assignment Tuesday, Delay was optioned to Triple-A on March 18.

Last year, a knee injury interrupted his season after one game and he appeared in seven games with the Pirates, batting .200 with six RBIs.

In total, he has appeared in 134 games for the Pirates over the last three seasons, hitting .231 with two homers and 35 RBIs.