Pirates’ bullpen continues to struggle
After back-to-back defeats to San Francisco on Wednesday and Thursday at PNC Park in which they coughed up five- and four-run leads, the Pittsburgh Pirates (23-28) are five games under .500.
For that, they have largely poor relief outings by the bullpen to thank.
Thought during the preseason to be a significant area of strength for the Pirates, the bullpen of late has been a near total liability.
Rookie phenoms Jared Jones and Paul Skenes did their parts in the last two games of the series vs. the Giants, delivering quality starts.
Offensively, the Pirates scored a collective 11 runs and hit grand slams in consecutive games.
But once the club’s starters departed (both of whom were in line to pick up wins), the relievers couldn’t get the job done, with two straight frustrating meltdowns keeping the club from being a lone game under .500, which would have represented the best position occupied by the Pirates since April 28.
“Frustrating. Very frustrating,” said manager Derek Shelton following Thursday’s 7-6 loss. “We have to finish games like that.”
On Thursday, the Pirates led 5-1 heading into the seventh, with Joey Bart having hit a grand slam in the fourth.
Newly recalled Jose Hernandez, taking over for Skenes, gave up a solo home run to Heliot Ramos, but Bryan Reynolds went deep in the bottom half of the frame, giving the Pirates a four-run advantage.
In the eighth, Hunter Stratton had a catastrophic outing, allowing consecutive singles and then a three-run homer to Matt Chapman.
After giving up a double to Jorge Soler and a game-tying RBI single to Wilmer Flores, Stratton was removed in favor of Aroldis Chapman, having surrendered four runs on five hits.
Chapman recorded the final two outs of the inning, but not before allowing the winning hit, with the run being charged to Stratton.
Thursday’s fiasco was a repeat of Wednesday’s 9-5 loss in 10 innings, only with a change in cast of characters.
On Wednesday, the Pirates took a 5-0 lead in the fourth, largely thanks to Reynolds’ grand slam.
The Giants scored three runs off Jones before he left the game after six innings, but Chapman walked the bases loaded in the eighth.
Shelton then turned to Colin Holderman, who allowed a run (charged to Chapman) but avoided further damage.
At that point, the Pirates were still up 5-4.
Holderman got two outs in the ninth but couldn’t slam the door shut, with Luis Matos singling and taking second on a Reynolds fielding error before LaMonte Wade Jr. drove him in to tie the score.
In the 10th, Shelton stuck with Carmen Mlodzinski after the 25-year-old had gotten the final out in the ninth.
But he allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits with a pair of walks, leading to Kyle Nicolas being summoned from the bullpen to record the frame’s final out.
“Our bullpen’s got to be better,” Shelton said. “We have, what, 5-1 lead yesterday, 6-2 lead today? We have to be better. Our bullpen has to be better. We have to win games like that.”
On the year, the bullpen’s 11 combined losses are seventh- most in MLB, and its 4.66 ERA is fifth-highest.
Interestingly, the Pirates’ bullpen has allowed the ninth-fewest hits (147) in baseball but issued the eighth-most walks (86).
A similar contrast can be found in WHIP (1.39), which is sixth-highest in MLB, while opposing batting average against is 10th at .230.
From Shelton’s vantage point, suboptimal execution of pitch location has been a particularly irritating recurring theme of late.
“Too many fastballs in the middle of the plate,” Shelton said. “I mean, that’s the commonality with our bullpen right now, too many fastballs in the middle of the plate. Can’t do it.”
At the moment, Shelton seems to have few appealing options in the bullpen.
Chapman, the club’s highest- paid player this year at $10.5 million, has struggled with command all season, with his current 1.84 WHIP and 11.02 walks per nine innings representing career- worsts.
David Bednar, though having settled down of late, navigated through a rough start to the year and still owns an ERA of 7.45.
As for Mlodzinski, who was injured to start the year and only made his 2024 Pirates debut on May 17, has looked far from the dominant rookie that stormed onto the scene last season, when he went 3-3 with a 2.25 ERA.
Stratton got shelled Thursday, and Nicolas isn’t far removed from a four-run, three-walk outing during Skenes’ MLB debut May 11.
With plenty of season still to go, Shelton will have to hope the pitchers in his bullpen are capable of turning things around, sooner rather than later.
“We play a lot of games, so in the grand scheme, we’ve just got to think things by series or between off days — just put it behind you,” Holderman said Wednesday.
