Colin Holderman’s return immediately told Pirates all they needed to know

When the Pittsburgh Pirates entered the bottom of the eighth inning of a tie game against the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, manager Derek Shelton knew had a decision to make.

Unfortunately, as is far too frequently the case, he made the wrong one.

With a chance to keep the game deadlocked and potentially secure a series win over the reigning world champions, Shelton went with setup man Colin Holderman, who was fresh off a stint on the Injured List – and it showed.

Holderman's first Major League appearance in more than three weeks went about as well as one would expect. Dodgers slugger Teoscar Hernández demolished the second pitch he saw, sending it over the left field wall for the go-ahead run that would give Los Angeles a 5-4 lead.

Shelton left Holderman in the game, and things only got worse from there. The right-hander proceeded to give up a double to Tommy Edman and a walk to Will Smith, ultimately getting yanked for the game with runners on first and third and no outs.

Left-hander Joey Wentz came in and surrendered a three-run homer to the first batter he faced, Kiké Hernández, and proceeded to give up a single and three walks before getting pulled in favor of Chase Shugart. Hernández flied out in his second at-bat of the inning, giving Shugart the final out. But the damage had already been done.

Colin Holderman’s return immediately told Pirates all they needed to know

By now, Pirates fans are painfully used to watching close games (or leads) get blown by the bullpen. In fairness, both of their primary high leverage arms – right-handers Dennis Santana and David Bednar – were in need of rest after pitching the day before. However, Bednar was warming up in the bullpen when Pittsburgh still had a 4-3 lead, and Shelton still chose to go with Holderman in the eighth.

"Well, he's pitched in those situations before," Shelton said of his decision to put Holderman in the game in a leverage situation. "I mean, that's the thing. He's pitched in leverage. And again, today, with where we were at in our bullpen, that's the lane that we liked. We just didn't get it done."

While Holderman may have pitched in those situations before, it's been an awfully long time since he's done it well. In five appearances before his IL stint, Holderman had thrown 4 2/3 innings and allowed six hits, five earned runs and four walks while striking out six. He's had just one outing this season where he hasn't allowed a run.

Holderman's struggles date back to last year. He was lights out for the first four months of the season in 2024, but his performance began to slip around late July. He was placed on the IL with a right wrist sprain in early August, and he hasn't been the same since.

Shelton can blame bullpen constraints all he wants, but he never should have put Holderman in that position in the first place for his first game back from a rehab assignment. As for Holderman himself, he appears to be just as much of a liability now as he was before his injury.

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