Derek Shelton was booed loudly when he was introduced ahead of his sixth home opener as the Pittsburgh Pirates manager last month.

He shook it off in the aftermath, attributing the reaction to understandable frustration from a fan base weary of a franchise-wide reset that looks and feels stalled.

The man who arrived at spring training saying it was time to win pledged to get it cleaned up. A little over a month later, with the Pirates languishing in last place amid a flurry of missteps both on and off the field, Shelton was out of a job.

Pittsburgh fired Shelton on Thursday, a decision general manager Ben Cherington — who hired Shelton months after taking over the club’s baseball operations in 2019 — called difficult but necessary to salvage a season perilously close to essentially being over before Memorial Day.

“We aren’t performing the way we need to,” Cherington said.

“We’re not performing in a way that our fans deserve. We know we need to be better.”

The move came with Pittsburgh mired in a seven-game losing streak and languishing at 12-26 overall. Shelton went 306-440 in five-plus seasons with the Pirates.

Bench coach Don Kelly will take over for the rest of the 2025 season, Kelly, a Pittsburgh native, spent nine years in the major leagues as a utility player. He has been the Pirates bench coach since 2020.

Reds’ Greene headed to IL: Cincinnati Reds right-hander Hunter Greene suffered a Grade 1 groin strain and will be placed on the injured list.

Greene threw two warmup pitches prior to the fourth inning during Wednesday night’s 4-3 victory at Atlanta. He felt a pull and was removed from the game.

“You don’t want to miss him for even a day,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “But all things considered, he’s going to be OK.”

Greene is 4-2 with a 2.36 ERA in eight starts this season. He has 61 strikeouts in 45 2/3 innings. Greene has averaged 24 starts in his first three seasons in the big leagues and made his first All-Star team last season.