Pittsburgh Pirates: Grading the Series Loss in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - SEPTEMBER 11: Adalberto Mondesi #27 of the Kansas City Royals rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the 1st inning of the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Kauffman Stadium on September 11, 2020 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - SEPTEMBER 11: Adalberto Mondesi #27 of the Kansas City Royals rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the 1st inning of the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Kauffman Stadium on September 11, 2020 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – SEPTEMBER 13: Relief pitcher Austin Davis #75 of the Pittsburgh Pirates throws in the eighth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on September 13, 2020 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – SEPTEMBER 13: Relief pitcher Austin Davis #75 of the Pittsburgh Pirates throws in the eighth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on September 13, 2020 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

The Pirate Bullpen

Despite suffering a loss, the bullpen gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a chance to come back on Friday night. Dovydas Neverauskas, Chris Stratton, Nik Turley, and Geoff Hartlieb combined to pitched 5 innings in relief of Brault. Those four allowed just 1 run on two hits, two walks and four strikeouts.

Saturday night, for the most part, things went well for the bullpen again.

Austin Davis was first up and pitched a 1-2-3 inning in his debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sam Howard retired the lone batter he faced, and Derek Holland pitched a scoreless 8th inning. However, Kyle Crick allowed two hits, walked a pair, was charged with a run, and failed to finish his inning of work.

Sunday afternoon the bullpen had a tall task in front them, and, for the most part, pitched well. Nick Tropeano pitched 2.2 innings, he allowed a run and struck out six. Neverauskas allowed a run in 2 innings of work, Richard Rodriguez struck out two of the three batters he faced and Davis retired the only batter he faced.

The Verdict

Against the Royals the Pirate bullpen was asked to log a lot of innings. In 12.2 innings of work, Pirate relievers allowed 4 runs. Any time you ask your bullpen to cover 12.2 innings in a series, you’ll settle for allowing just 4 runs.

Grade: B