Pittsburgh Pirates Overcome -17 Run Differential to Win Series at Wrigley

Apr 24, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates players celebrate after defeating the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 24, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates players celebrate after defeating the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
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Apr 22, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Chris Stratton (46) delivers the baseball in the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 22, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Chris Stratton (46) delivers the baseball in the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports

Another strong series for the Pirate bullpen

Fire Saturday’s game into the sun. Bur the tape. Destroy it. Never, ever watch any footage or highlights from that game again. To be honest, when you lose baseball game 21-0 it’s truly all you can do.

Throwing that game out the window includes throwing the performance of the bullpen, which included a post played pitching appearance from Diego Castillo, away. Outside of Saturday afternoon it was another stellar series for the Pirate bullpen.

In the there Pirate victories the Pirate bullpen allowed 1 run, a solo home run hit by Ian Happ on Sunday afternoon, on 12 hits, 4 walks, and 24 strikeouts in 16.1 innings pitched. The work Oscar Marin and Justin Meccage have done with the bullpen so far in 2022 has been remarkable.

Derek Shelton also deserves a ton of credit for his management of the bullpen. Shelty continues to  grow leaps and bounds with his bullpen management as he continues to grow as a MLB manager with the Pirates.

If the Pirate bullpen continues to do what it has done then their success has a strong chance of continuing. Especially with the combination of long-receivers and short receivers that Shelton has. Right now every button the Pirates are pressing with the bullpen is working.

Oh, it should also be mentioned that a and flu bug was cutting through the Pirate bullpen this weekend. This included Chris Stratton who gutted it out to pitched 2.1 scoreless innings while allowing 2 hits, walking a batter, striking out 3, and taking a line drive off the pitching elbow in the series.

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