Pirates send Bae Ji-hwan back to minors

Bae Ji-hwan of the Pittsburgh Pirates attempts to steal second base against the Washington Nationals during the clubs' Major League Baseball regular-season game at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., Sept. 14. AP-Yonhap

Bae Ji-hwan's latest stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates has lasted only eight days.

The Pirates on Monday (local time) optioned Bae back to their Triple-A affiliate, Indianapolis Indians. The Korean utility player had been called up on Sept. 7.

Bae, 26, made the Opening Day roster for the Pirates after leading the Pirates with 16 hits and 13 runs scored in spring training. However, he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his season debut on March 29 and then was thrown out at third as a pinch runner the next day. He did not play again before getting sent down to the minors on April 3.

The Pirates brought him back up to the bigs on May 9 but Bae only logged seven at-bats across five games that month while recording one hit. He was optioned to the minors again on May 16.

Another call-up to the majors came earlier this month, but Bae went 0-for-9 with four strikeouts and four walks in six games.

For the season, Bae has gone 1-for-20 with nine strikeouts and four steals.

The Indians have six games left in their Triple-A season.