Francisco Liriano to miss next start with hamstring discomfort

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced today that Francisco Liriano will miss his next start due to right hamstring discomfort.

If you thought the beat-down by the Detroit Tigers was the only bad news of the day, you were wrong. This evening following the conclusion of the game, the Pirates announced via Twitter that Francisco Liriano will miss his next start on Wednesday due to right hamstring discomfort. Ryan Vogelsong will pitch in his place.

Ryan Vogelsong will start Wednesday in place of Francisco Liriano, who has right hamstring discomfort (status is day-to-day).

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 12, 2016

This is obviously both surprising and disappointing news. Liriano is coming off of a rough start on Friday in which he allowed three earned runs across five innings of work. He also allowed four walks and needed 90 pitches to get through five. Maybe this poor performance is due to this injury, as his Opening Day start was dynamic, as he struck out ten and allowed zero runs in six innings. Hopefully this discomfort doesn’t turn into something more major, as the quality starters behind Liriano and Gerrit Cole in the lineup is, well, lacking.

This may also be why Ryan Vogelsong didn’t pitch in the game today, as the team may have been resting him for his start on Wednesday. Vogelsong is a clear drop-off from Liriano, but maybe Ray Searage worked out some kinks with him this spring. After all, both Juan Nicasio and Jeff Locke logged quality starts in their first outings this year, so maybe Vogelsong will too.

Here’s hoping Liriano just misses a start or two and is back as soon as possible.

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