Pittsburgh Pirates Three Stars of the Week Apr. 18-24

It was a roller coaster week of sorts for the Pirates, who found themselves with an 8-8 record at week’s end. After getting swept in a three-game series with the Brewers, the Bucs headed to Chicago for a four-game set with the Cubs. The Pirates took three out of four in the Windy City. The lone loss was a 21-0 thumping, but hey, a series win is a series win, right?

A few Pirates enjoyed some individual performances, notably in the bullpen. Wil Crowe continued his strong start to the season. Chris Stratton picked up a pair of saves against the Cubs.

Mitch Keller had his strongest start of the season against the Brewers, allowing one run in 5.1 innings of work. With only one start though, Keller fell just shy of making the top three.

Third Star: David Bednar – 3 appearances, 3.1 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, 1 save

Talk about an impressive week. Bednar was lights out, pitching in three high leverage situations, all three games resulting in wins for the Pirates.

He capped off his impressive week with an exclamation point in Sunday’s win over the Cubs. With the bases loaded and a one run lead, he blew a fastball past Frank Schwindel to seal the victory and earn his second save of the young season.

The entire — and wholly unfair — duel between David Bednar and Frank Schwindel with bases loaded, a one-run lead and two outs in the ninth:pic.twitter.com/sGE5Xbvs4v

— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) April 24, 2022

Second Star: Dillon Peters – 3 appearances, 6.1 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

The bad news is someone got a hit off of Peters for the first time this season. The good news is, well, everything else. The left-hander continued his early season dominance while giving the Pirates length out of the bullpen.

Peters has proven to be extremely effective and has played a key role in the Pirates strong start to the season. The Bucs bullpen in general has been strong, and Peters has been a big factor for that.

First Star: Daniel Vogelbach -.333/.417/.667, 7 for 21, 1 double, 2 home runs, 3 RBIs, 3 walks, 3 runs, 6 games

Vogelbach played in six games this week and recorded at least one hit in all six of those contests. He’s not only hit, but he’s flashed his power and has continued to get on base for the Bucs. Mostly finding himself atop the Pirates order, he has really set the tone for the offense.

He leads the team with three homers, a pair of which came this week.

Vogel-bash pic.twitter.com/qYYAsBi2xI

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 22, 2022

VogelBACH in Milwaukee pic.twitter.com/yauPEKYiiX

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 20, 2022

The Pirates have an off day Monday before a six-game homestand with three games against both the Brewers and Padres. Check back next week to see the Bucs best performers.