Pirates make roster moves before Opening Day, but don't need to make any cuts

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Thanks to a new addition, the Pittsburgh Pirates didn't have to make a final roster cut on Opening Day.

To get to the 26-man roster, manager Derek Shelton said the Pirates were placing left-handed pitcher Steven Brault (lat strain) on the 60-day injured list and right-hander Cody Ponce on the 10-day IL.

That trimmed the roster to 27 players, but righty reliever Kyle Crick went home for the birth of his child and didn't travel to Chicago. He was placed on the covid-IL because of the necessary intake procedures to return to the team under MLB health and safety protocols.

The Pirates selected right-handed reliever Clay Holmes to the major league roster for Thursday's season opener against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

After being designated for assignment in the offseason, Holmes signed a minor league contract as a nonroster invitee to spring training. He didn't allow a run in 10 appearances this spring, giving up seven hits and three walks while striking out eight in 9 2/3 innings. Opposing batters hit .212 against him.

Shelton gave a few sneak peeks at his Opening Day starting lineup in the final days of spring training, as he previously declared Chad Kuhl would be the starting pitcher and second baseman Adam Frazier would bat leadoff.

The biggest announcement to the Opening Day lineup was declaring Anthony Alford the winner for the starting job in center field, though Shelton cautioned that Alford and Dustin Fowler will play there.

The Pirates rewarded Alford, who performed well in five games in September after being claimed off waivers from Toronto before crashing into the center-field wall at PNC Park and requiring season-ending elbow surgery. Alford batted .250 (9 for 36) with a double, two home runs and six RBIs this spring.

"I went with Anthony primarily (because) last year, at the end of the year, he did a nice job before he got hurt," Shelton said. "I think it's just more consistency of his swing. The way his swing looks and how his swing is moving I think is continuing to improve, and that's going off having him in Toronto and seeing some of the adjustments that Rick has started to make with him are going to translate. He looks better than he did then, and we just have to continue to work on those things. He's a strong kid, so the power's going to come."

A small surprise was having shortstop Kevin Newman hit fifth in the batting order after he batted sixth in the final few games of Grapefruit League play. Shelton said it wasn't so much about rewarding Newman for hitting an MLB spring training-record .606 but rather splitting up left-handed hitters Colin Moran and Gregory Polanco in the lineup.

Behind Frazier, rookie third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes batted second, followed by left fielder Bryan Reynolds in the three-hole and first baseman Moran in the cleanup spot. Shelton stayed true to his word that Kuhl would bat ninth — although he left open the possibility that pitchers could bat eighth sometime this season — so the rest of the batting order featured right fielder Polanco batting sixth, catcher Jacob Stallings seventh and Alford eighth.

Shelton said the mood in the Pirates' clubhouse was "really good" and "light."

"I think they're trying to figure out how to stay warm because we went from 85 to 35 (degrees), and that's a little bit different," Shelton said, adding that the climate change was especially challenging for pitching coach Oscar Marin. "I've got Oscar walking around with every piece of clothing he owns on. Other than that. It's good. It's light."

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .