Pittsburgh Pirates: Grading Series Loss Against the Indians
By Marty Leap
The Bullpen
The bullpen continues to be an absolute roller coaster ride for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tuesday night, all in all, was not a bad night for the Pirate bullpen. Derek Holland pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief of Brubaker, Chris Stratton, Nik Turley, Richard Rodriguez, and Keone Kela would each follow with a scorless inning of their own.
While Sam Howard allowed a game-winning 3-run home run in the 10th inning, one of the two runners on base was there due to the new extra inning rule. So, it was not a runner Howard put on base. Furthermore, the home run appeared to go foul, but even after a lengthy review, it was still ruled fair.
Overall, any time your bullpen needs to cover 7 innings and they allowed just 2 earned runs you will gladly take it.
Game two was a different story for the bullpen. Following Brault 5 dazzling innings, Dovydas Neverauskas proceeded to allow a 3-run home run in the 6th inning. Tyler Bashlor also got tagged for 3 runs, and Geoff Hartlieb had some struggles with control. When the dust settled, the Pirate bullpen had allowed 6 earned runs on three hits, seven walks, a home run, and a hit batter in just 4 innings of work.
In game three, the bullpen performed well again. Howard bounced back with a 1-2-3 inning, and fellow lefty Brandon Waddell fired 2 scoreless innings of his own. Stratton allowed an unearned run due to a Josh Bell error in his lone inning of work, then Turley fired a 1-2-3 9th inning. Overall, good stuff from the bullpen.
The Verdict
Two good nights for the bullpen outweighs one bad night. That one bad night, however, costs the bullpen a better grade for the series.
Grade: B