(Photo by D. Ross Cameron/USA Today Sports)

Prior to Wednesday’s game to close out the series against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pirates announced two roster moves regarding their pitching staff: calling up starting pitcher Luis Ortiz from the taxi squad/Triple-A Indianapolis, and optioning relief pitcher Dauri Moreta down to Indianapolis. 

Moreta, once one of the best relievers the Pirates had during the early part of the season, has since suffered a steep decline, one that the Pirates apparently believe can best be solved with some time in Indianapolis.

The move was questioned by some, especially as Ortiz had another harsh game up in the major leagues. Moreta, however, has struggled to get back on track in recent time.

Moreta has had a rough last few months in Pittsburgh, and his last outing against St. Louis on Tuesday was another sign of that. 

Pitching 1.2 innings on Tuesday, Moreta allowed two runs and three hits, while walking a batter. His shaky go on the mound allowed the Cardinals to crawl back into the game that the Pirates eventually won 6-3. 

Moreta has been severely less confident in his recent games, evident by his body language on the mound. Whether that has actually affected his play or not, it’s clear that right now he isn’t the same Dauri that he was to start the year. His only real impressive game of the month was Sunday, where he recorded 3 strikeouts in a 2-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins.  

August has been particularly rough for Moreta, who has relieved a pitcher in only 4 games while missing a few weeks with injury. In those 4 August appearances, he has given up a run in 3 of those 4 games, including giving up 2 runs on Tuesday and 3 back on August 3rd. 

His struggles can be traced back to the beginning of June, when his dominant run had started to tail off and the numbers against him began to rise. Since June, Moreta has been a very up and down player, but the cold stretches have been lasting longer than the hot ones as of late. 

Since the start of July, his ERA has been 5.06, far too high for a reliever the Pirates need to count on. He’s given up 15 hits in 16.0 innings pitched.

He’s been a pitcher that you hope can just get through the inning, which is a very big reversal from his start to the year, where he was routinely counted on to secure scoreless innings. 

But things have changed drastically over the season, and his ERA for the season now stands at 4.24, the highest it’s been since April 19th.

With Moreta now in Indianapolis, the question becomes who will take the innings vacated by Moreta? Jose Hernandez and Thomas Hatch are potential suitors to take on some extra innings, as well as recent call-up Colin Selby, who has just 8.2 innings pitched over his major league career to this point.

I am a big personal fan of Moreta. When he’s confident and he’s feeling things, he can be great. He’s a high energy guy and an electric force in the bullpen and in the dugout. But it’s quite clear that Moreta has sadly lost a lot of confidence recently.

With rosters expanding in September, it’s possible that Moreta finds himself back up in Pittsburgh in short order. But in the meantime, a stint down in Indianapolis could help him recover from a midseason collapse.