Pittsburgh Pirates

Pirates starting pitcher Jeanmar Gomez placed his calf issues aside as he made the start Friday night against the Astros.

Gomez, who made his fifth start of the season, surrendered a solo home run to Matt Dominguez in the fifth. The right-hander was charged with four runs -- three earned -- and five hits over 4 2/4 innings of work. He walked two and struck out one as he settled for a no-decision.

Gomez is scheduled to make his next start Thursday at home against the Cubs. He surrendered four runs over 14 1/3 innings of work.

The Pirates have recalled reliever Jared Hughes from Triple-A Indianapolis to replace Jose Contreras, who was placed on the bereavement list Friday.

Hughes went 1-2 with a 4.61 ERA in 13 2/3 innings during his recent stint in the majors. He has one save and has pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings while at Triple-A.

The Pirates have officially placed pitcher Jose Contreras on the bereavement list Friday. Contreras has a 4.50 ERA through four innings of work since joining the team after working his way back from Tommy John surgery.

So Francisco Liriano has 16 strikeouts over 11 innings in two starts since returning from the DL and seems to have his usual velocity, averaging 92.8 miles per hour on his fastball. Pretty cool.

He also has a 1.55 WHIP in those two starts, allowing more than hit per inning in each.

Two starts don't tell us much of anything but because neither has made me jump out of my chair and say, "Oh, wow! This is the Liriano we've been missing the last three years," I'm not in a hurry to add the Pirates left-hander off the waiver wire. It's not like he stopped striking out batters with the Twins and White Sox. The problem was all those baserunners.

Sure, Liriano is worth a flier if you need a strikeout specialist or a high-upside guy -- I currently rank him 82nd at starting pitcher -- but he's far from a must-add.

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported Friday that the Pirates have traded catcher Brian Jeroloman to the Nationals.

Jeroloman, 28, was batting just .222 at Triple-A Indianapolis, and is expected to serve as minor-league depth for Washington after Wilson Ramos' hamstring injury.