Pirates Series Takeaways: First Half Assessment, Bullpen Strategy Works, Another Pittsburgh Kid
PITTSBURGH — The Pirates hosted the American League West-leading Mariners for three games at PNC Park fresh off of a disappointing series loss against the Rockies in Colorado last weekend.
After dropping a one-run game to Seattle on Tuesday, Pittsburgh rebounded to win the final two games and take the series.
It was a tough loss for the Pirates in the opener, but they rebounded by outscoring the Mariners 16-2 over the final two contests. Braxton Ashcraft pitched a gem on Wednesday and the offense erupted for 11 runs in the win. In Thursday’s rubber match, the Pirates used a pair of homers and a solid pitching performance from Bubba Chandler and co. for a 5-1 win.
Here are three takeaways after a big series win on the North Shore.
Halfway Mark
Thursday’s game was the 81st game of the season for the Pirates. With the win, they improved to 41-40 and are over .500 at the halfway point for the first time since 2015, a season in which Pittsburgh won 98 games and went to the postseason.
At the conclusion of Thursday’s game, the Pirates are in fourth place in the National League Central and 9.5 games behind the division-leading Brewers. In the wild card race, they are well within striking distance, only 2.5 games out of the third spot in the race.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” Brandon Lowe, who also added they let some games slip away, said on Thursday.
It’s true. The Pirates haven’t yet fired on all cylinders. Their bullpen has struggled for much of the season. The offense has been good but has had trouble coming up with the big hit at times. Paul Skenes and Braxton Ashcraft have been good, but the rest of the rotation has struggled at various points.
The injury bug also hasn’t done them many favors. They’ve been without Konnor Griffin for all of June. Oneil Cruz is expected to be sidelined until after the All-Star break. Ryan O’Hearn missed a couple weeks earlier in the season, and Spencer Horwitz is the latest to land on the shelf.
But overall, while there is a real argument that the Pirates could be better than their one game over .500 record reads, they’re in contention.
“There’s a better team that we’ll see in the second half, more consistent, need to play better to get where we want to do, said manager Don Kelly, who notched his 100th career win on Thursday. “We’re in a good spot but we’re not there yet.”
Bullpen Strategy Works
Kelly’s decision to use Carmen Mlodzinski for the final three innings of the Pirates’ blowout win on Wednesday was questioned by some, but the strategy paid off in the rubber match.
Other than Mlodzinski, Kelly had his full bullpen at his disposal. The Pirates manager played the matchups and used four relievers to cover the final 3.2 innings to secure the win.
Yesterday, with what (Mlodzinski) did to come in and cover that to have a full rested ‘pen ready to go, it was nice,” Kelly said after Thursday’s win.
Evan Sisk relieved starter Bubba Chandler and faced six batters. Yohan Ramírez faced the next three batters and was relieved by Mason Montgomery, who got the final out of the seventh and had a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Gregory Soto slammed the door shut with a spotless ninth.
The bullpen had to work out of a couple jams but combined to hold Seattle scoreless.
“We bent, we didn’t break,” said Kelly. “Found a way to make some huge pitches when we needed to.”
WPIAL Rakes
Add North Allegheny grad Cole Young to the list of Pittsburgh-natives to torment the Pirates, especially at PNC Park.
Young hit the game-winning home run against the Pirates in the Mariners’ 3-2 win on Tuesday night. The 22-year-old rookie doubled on Wednesday and reached base safely three times in the series.
He joins the likes of the Cubs’ Ian Happ (.306 lifetime batting average in Pittsburgh) and Cardinals rookie JJ Wetherholt (6 for 16 with three doubles and two homers at PNC Park earlier this year) as players who return home and prove to be a thorn in the Pirates’ side.
“Love that they make it, but don’t want them to do that against us,” manager Don Kelly said after Tuesday’s game. “Yeah, don’t like that at PNC.”
Unlike Happ and Wetherholt, at least the Pirates will only have to see Young in Pittsburgh once every couple years.
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Optimisticly: 44-37 for the 2nd half which means 85-77 for the season, but no playoffs.
This team could have easily won 50 games in the first half. Stop giving games away, and grind out a few more wins.