Pirates' Tony Watson: Taken out of closer's role

Watson is no longer the closer for the Pirates, Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

The left-hander blew his second consecutive save Wednesday night, leading the Pirates to finally pull the plug on him as their closer. Watson will move into lower-leverage situations, where he'll work to regain the form that produced sub-3.00 ERA's from 2013 through 2015. For the time being, Juan Nicasio and Felipe Rivero will share ninth inning duties, but Watson could climb back into contention if he shows drastic improvement in his new role.