Pittsburgh Pirates' Carmen Mlodzinski looks on during the first inning of a baseball game between the Texas Rangers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski was placed on the restricted list on Sunday before the club’s 9-3 win against the Minnesota Twins.

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington told reporters that Mlodzinski informed the team Sunday morning that he wasn’t ready to pitch.

The 27-year-old was moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen after Jared Jones returned from a right UCL injury in Friday’s game. The Pirates planned to use Mlodzinski out of the bullpen in a bulk role with the possibility of starting again in 2026 if needed.

“Confident that we’re going to see him pitch for this team very soon, but he wasn’t ready to do that today,” Cherington said. “I think going into the weekend we understood and communicated with Carmen that, at some point this weekend, we were going to need him to be ready or we’re going to have to replace him on the team, in fairness to the team. So that’s what happened.”

The Pirates also reinstated first baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn (right quad muscle strain) from the 10-day injured list and placed infielder Konnor Griffin (right elbow strain) on the 10-day injured list.

“We’re not going to put a date on it or anything like that,” Ben Cherington told reporters in regards to Griffin. “Based on the information we have now, and the progress he’s made since this cropped up, we remain optimistic that he’ll be back playing for us before too long, but obviously we’ll be careful with it, and we need to listen to him, and we’ll put him out there when he’s ready to go out there.”

The Pirates recalled right-handed pitcher Cam Sanders from Triple-A Indianapolis to take Mlodzinski’s spot.