A volatile bullpen cost the Pittsburgh Pirates dearly on Wednesday, turning a scoreless tie into an 8-2 loss to the San Diego Padres.
The Pittsburgh Pirates' bullpen has been either good or bad, with no middle ground through the first dozen games of the season.
The bad bullpen showed up on Wednesday at PNC Park after Mitch Keller threw six scoreless innings and left a scoreless tie.
The Padres scored four runs off Justin Lawrence in the seventh and four more off Jose Urquidy in the ninth, beating Pittsburgh 8-2 in the series' decisive game.
Errors by two different shortstops, Nick Gonzales and teenage phenom Konnor Griffin, did not help. The misplays led to four of the Padres’ eight runs being unearned.
The loss dropped Pittsburgh to 7-5. The Pirates are off Thursday before visiting the Cubs for a three-game series starting Friday in Chicago.
Gonzales’ error let Xander Bogaerts reach base to open the seventh, and Miguel Andujar doubled. Nick Castellanos followed with a two-run double to break the 0-0 tie. Two batters later, Jake Cronenworth blasted a two-run home run for a 4-0 lead.
Although Keller had thrown only 85 pitches and maybe could have pitched another inning, manager Don Kelly did not second-guess his decision to use the bullpen.
“He was nearing his pitch limit coming off the first time on regular rest and really felt really good about the pocket that Lawrence was going into,” Kelly told reporters after the game. “It didn't work out great, but Lawrence has been so good for us. He's been dominant for us a lot of times out of the backend of the pen. You know, at the end of last year, beginning of this year. I felt really good about putting him in that spot.”
Lawrence’s ERA rose to 9.53 through six appearances. This highlights the bullpen’s stark contrast: five of eight relievers have ERAs of 2.75 or lower, while the other three have marks of 6.75 or higher.
The good: Dennis Santana (0.00), Gregory Soto (1.23), Urquidy (1.80), Yohan Ramirez (2.35), Isaac Mattson (2.70). The bad: Hunter Barco (6.75), Lawrence, Mason Montgomery (9.64).
Pittsburgh has a 3.91 relief ERA, ranking 18th in the majors. That’s not terrible, but it's not good enough for a team aiming for its first postseason appearance since 2015.
The bullpen not only needs to get better but also be more consistent.
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