Pirates cannot keep using Colin Holderman in high leverage amid repeated meltdowns

Rookie phenom Paul Skenes was pulled after 5 1/3 innings for his shortest start of the season since June, but that wasn't even the worst Pittsburgh Pirates pitching performance on Sunday. That superlative went to reliever Colin Holderman, who came in to pitch the seventh and earn his third loss in five days.

Holderman, who had nearly blown a four-run lead in the previous Sunday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks and surrendered the deciding run when he faced them again in Friday’s loss, walked two batters and recorded the first two outs in the seventh. He was one strike away from completing the inning before Diamondbacks designated hitter Joc Pederson stepped up to the plate and launched a 100 MPH sinker to left for a go-ahead three-run home run to erase the Pirates’ two-run lead.

In Holderman's defense, the pitch to Pederson was perfectly placed. However, the end result was his third consecutive loss to continue what has been a concerning trend over the past month. After surrendering just one home run in the first three months of the season, he has now surrendered at least one earned run in each of his last four outings, including four homers in his last 3 ⅓ innings pitched. He has been the losing pitcher in each of the Pirates’ last three losses.

Pirates cannot keep using Holderman in high-leverage situations amid repeated meltdowns

Holderman started the season lights out, posting an exceptional 0.68 ERA in 28 relief appearances. Since the last week of June, however, he has been tagged for 12 earned runs in 14.1 innings pitched (7.54 ERA). He has also allowed five home runs over that stretch.

Albert Einstein is credited with defining insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Well, the Pirates keep putting Holderman in high-leverage situations in games, and he keeps delivering the same results – and they're not good ones. Regardless of the reasoning behind Holderman's recent rough stretch, perhaps the solution for the time being would be to stop using him in these situations until he can get his stuff under control again (or his luck turns, whatever comes first).

The Pirates have far more reliable arms in their bullpen to replace Holderman for these late innings. David Bednar has converted 19 straight save opportunities; Aroldis Chapman has been pitching well of late; Kyle Nicolas has emerged as a legitimate option; and Jalen Beeks had nine saves with the Colorado Rockies prior to getting dealt to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline.

The Pirates need to figure out a new bullpen strategy as they prepare for a three-game series this week against the San Diego Padres with major playoff implications. It is, in fact, insanity to have so many options and yet keep going back to Holderman and expecting different results.

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