Perrotto: Bullpen Pulls off Gold Medal-Type Relay

PITTSBURGH – The 400-meter relay is one of the prime events in track and field. Then there are the 1600- and 3200-meter relays, too.

The Pittsburgh Pirates weren’t running track on Friday night at PNC Park. However, their bullpen pulled off an almost flawless 16-out relay in a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a three-game series at PNC Park.

Nick Gonzales was the hero with his walk-off sacrifice fly. Adam Frazier had three hits, and catcher Henry Davis homered and doubled after being called upon to replace Endy Rodríguez, who left the game at the start of the second inning with right elbow discomfort.

However, the relief foursome of Chase Shugart, Caleb Ferguson, Dennis Santana, and David Bednar played just as big a hand in the win.

That is why manager Don Kelly started his post-game press conference by saying, “How about that bullpen?”

Pirates starter Bailey Falter, er, faltered in his first start of June following a very berry month of May as he was pulled in the fourth inning with the score tied at 2-all. Falter was 3-0 with a sparkling 0.76 ERA last month in six starts.

The night did not start off promising for the bullpen, though,

Chase Shugart entered with two outs and the bases loaded and gave up a two-run single to Trea Turner that put the Phillies ahead 4-2. Shugart allowed inherited runners to score for the first time all season after stranding his first 13.

Shugart bounced back to strike out Kyle Schwarber to end the inning, and the Phillies never scored again and had only one hit, Nick Castellanos’ double in the fifth off Shugart.

Shugart pitched 1.1 innings and was followed by left-hander Caleb Ferguson (1.2 innings) and Dennis Santana (1.1 innings). David Bednar then struck out the side in order in the ninth and got credit for his first win since May 21, 2024, ending a nine-decision losing streak.

In all, the bullpen pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, allowed one hit, walked one, and struck out eight. That was quite a change of pace for a relief corps that entered the game with a 4.46 ERA, ranking 24^th among the 30 MLB teams.

“I think, overall, as a group, it’s a step in the right direction of where we’ve been going,” Ferguson said. “We’ve had some rough stretches, but I think we’re improving and becoming more consistent.”

Relief pitchers are usually the closest unit on a team. They sit together in the bullpen, far from the rest of their teammates in the dugout.

A good relief corps is built, first and foremost, with talented pitchers. However, there is also a camaraderie that forms, which makes nights like Friday all the more special.

“What we did tonight was huge,” Bednar said. “Bailey has been throwing the ball really well for us, and it was nice to be able to pick him up this time. We went from Shug to Ferg to Dennis, just kept handing the ball off. It was really cool to see. It’s a tight-knit family down there, and we’re all pulling for each other, so it feels good when we are all able to pitch well together.”

Ferguson echoed Bednar’s sentiments and added, “It’s hard to win a Major League Baseball game, really hard. You need a lot of contributions from a lot of different people to win games, and that’s what we did tonight.”

They did it so well that, for a change, the manager could say “How about that bullpen?” instead of answering questions about what went wrong with his relievers.