The Pittsburgh Pirates are already dealing with a tired bullpen. Now, Major League Baseball has handed down suspensions to pitcher Chris Devenski and manager Don Kelly.

The punishment follows a tense seventh-inning incident during Saturday’s 17-7 win over the Cincinnati Reds, leaving the team short-handed at a bad time.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were leading 15-6 when reliever Devenski took the mound in the seventh inning with Sal Stewart at the plate. Just as Devenski got ready to pitch, Stewart called for a timeout.

It appeared to have annoyed the pitcher. Because Devenski then threw a 92-mph sinker that came inside. Stewart had to jump out of the way, and his helmet flew off. MLB determined the throw was intentional and punished Devenski and the Pirates’ manager, Don Kelly.

“Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Chris Devenski receives three-game suspension and is fined for throwing at Sal Stewart of the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, and manager Don Kelly is suspended one game and will miss tonight’s game vs. Arizona,” reported Bob Nightengale on X.

However, recent reports from MLB.com’s Jason Mackey suggest that Devenski’s suspension was reduced to two games after a settlement was reached. The reliever will miss the first two games of the series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

While what prompted the throw is still unclear, it may have had something to do with whether Stewart was in the batter’s box at the proper time before the at-bat.

MLB has also fined Kelly and Devenski, though the exact amount remains undisclosed. Bench coach Kristopher Negrón will manage the team for Tuesday’s game as Kelly serves his part of the punishment.

On Saturday, after Devenski’s sinker almost hit Stewart, he was visibly angry.

“You’re soft as f— for that,” said the rookie hitter, while pointing towards Devenski.

As the Pirates’ catcher, Henry Davis, attempted to calm Stewart down, the home plate umpire, Willie Traynor, ejected Devenski from the game. As Kelly came out of the dugout to protest the move, he suffered the same fate.

Yohan Ramirez replaced Devenski on the mound, and Stewart lined out on a 96-mph sinker. Stewart, who is hitting .252 this season, went hitless against the Pirates in his 13 at-bats. Pittsburgh won the match 17-7 on Saturday.

A two-game suspension might not sound terrible, but it is a major headache for Pittsburgh right now.

The Pirates’ bullpen has pitched the sixth-most innings in the league this year. They just called up Devenski from Triple-A on April 29 to help rest the other pitchers. He was playing great in the minors, posting a 2.25 ERA and striking out 15 batters in just over 10 innings. To make room for him, the team had to send down struggling left-hander Hunter Barco.

The 2026 Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen has struggled with consistency and high walk rates, wasting strong starts from the rotation. The team struggled to find reliable middle-relief options to bridge to the late innings, with pitchers like Barco (6.43 ERA) and José Urquidy (8.53 ERA) underperforming before being sent down.

Meanwhile, following the suspension, Devenski has revealed his intentions behind the throw.

Chris Devenski opens up about Saturday’s incident

Chris Devenski has landed himself in trouble only three days after he was called up from the minors. Since then, the 11-season MLB veteran has pitched in three games, logging 2.1 innings with a 2.14 WHIP. He has surrendered 5 hits and 2 earned runs, recording a 7.71 ERA.

Following Saturday’s incident, Devenski told MLB.com that he never tried to hit Stewart intentionally.

“Going hard [inside] to start an at-bat. I know the guy likes to dive over [the plate]. Just trying to execute my pitch there, and I think he took it the wrong way,” observed the reliever. “It is what it is. Hey, I’m not going to back down from anything, either.”

On Saturday, crew chief Alan Porter was umpiring at first base.

Once the incident unfolded, he gathered other umpires and concluded that Devenski’s throw inside was intentional and aimed to hit Stewart. Following this, they ejected him.

“We had the situation leading up to it with [Devenski] stepping off the rubber and [Stewart] stepping out of the box,” Porter noted, per MLB.com. “Still had time and stepped out. After that, [Devenski] stepped up, fired the pitch, and we believe threw it at him intentionally. That’s why we ejected him.”

On Tuesday night, at Chase Field, the Pirates suffered a 9-0 shutout loss to the D-backs. Arizona used a five-run sixth inning to take a 7-0 lead. Pittsburgh reliever Yohan Ramirez was tagged for all five runs and recorded just one out. Within just one inning, the Diamondbacks went from 2-0 to 7-0.

Now, with Devenski out for another game of the series, late-inning relievers like Dennis Santana and Gregory Soto may carry extra weight to close out Wednesday’s game.