Pittsburgh Pirates Play Arguably Best Series of the Season in St. Louis

Pirate bullpen continues to pitch well

Throughout the 2021 season the Pirate bullpen has been one of the best in the National League. This continued over the weekend in St. Louis as the work of the Pirate bullpen played a large role in the team securing a series victory.

Pirate relievers pitched 13 innings over the weekend. In these 13 innings of work, the bullpen allowed 3 earned runs on 4 hits, 8 walks, no home runs allowed, they hit a batter and struck out 11 batters.

During the series both Chris Stratton and David Bednar had scoreless outings in multiple games. Duane Underwood Jr. helped save the bullpen following Sunday’s rain delay by pitching 3 strong innings of relief, and prior to being optioned back to Triple-A Geoff Hartlieb bounced back from a poor outing on Thursday night by pitching a 1-2-3 8th inning on Saturday afternoon.

Clay Holmes, Kyle Crick, Chasen Shreve, and Richard Rodríguez all pitched scoreless innings over the weekend.

While the Pirate bullpen could lose some key pieces between now and the July 30 trade deadline, for now it remains one of the most reliable in the National League. Even after likely trades are made, the bullpen should still be in good hands when Sam Howard returns from the IL and highly touted relief prospect Nick Mears is promoted to help replace relievers who could be traded.