Orioles bolster bullpen with Raquet trade, move Eflin to 60-day IL

CHICAGO (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles acquired left-hander Nick Raquet in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday.

The addition of Raquet puts another lefty in the bullpen for first-year manager Craig Albernaz. The 30-year-old Raquet was designated for assignment by the Cardinals on Sunday.

The Orioles also transferred right-hander Zach Eflin to the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Brandon Young was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.

Eflin, who turns 32 on Wednesday, is sidelined with right elbow discomfort.

“He's getting a second opinion today,” Albernaz said before Tuesday's game at the Chicago White Sox. “And also, the way it's trending, 60-day makes a ton of sense.”

The 27-year-old Young pitched five scoreless innings in Monday's 2-1 win over the White Sox. He was brought up from Norfolk to fill in for Eflin after Cade Povich, Baltimore’s first option for the start, worked 5 2/3 innings in long relief Sunday at Pittsburgh.

“B.Y. stepping up, giving us five innings of shutout baseball was exactly what we needed,” Albernaz said. “It just speaks to our starting pitching depth.”

The Orioles sent minor league second baseman Brayden Smith to the Cardinals for Raquet, a third-round pick in the 2017 amateur draft.

Raquet made his major league debut last year, tossing two scoreless innings for the Cardinals in September. He was 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in two relief appearances for Triple-A Peoria this season, last pitching on Wednesday.

“You can never have enough left-handed pitching, especially relievers,” Albernaz said. “You love the strike-throwing ability he has shown. ... So the biggest thing for us right now is to get him acclimated. He hasn't thrown in a little bit. So we want to make sure that he gets outside, plays catch and touches the mound and we'll kind of go from there.”

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