Pittsburgh Pirates: Great Series for the Bullpen & More Takeaways From Series Victory in San Fran

Strong series for the bullpen

Cody Bolton got absolutely rocked in game one on Monday. The righty recorded just one out while allowing 8 runs on six hits, two walks and no strikeouts. Other than this outing, it was a great series for the Pirate bullpen.

Rob Zastryzny cleaned up the 7th inning mess that Bolton created on Monday and picked up two more big outs on Wednesday. All told, Zastryzny allowed two hits and issued a walk in 1.1 scoreless innings pitched.

Dauri Moreta faced one batter on Wednesday and retired the batter, while Robert Stephenson and Yohan Ramirez combined to strick out three while issuing a walk in 2 scoreless innings pitched. This was a much needed bounce back outing from Stephenson while Ramirez continues to fly under the radar as a top notch reliever out of the Pirate bullpen this season.

The best game for the bullpen was Tuesday night's 2-1 victory.

After Johan Oviedo pitched just 4.1 innings, Moreta did his thing and remained money. He allowed a hit and issued a walk, but got the final two outs of the 5th inning and the first out of the 6th inning while also striking a batter out.

Jose Hernandez pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, as did Colin Holderman. Shelton has rarely asked Holderman to get more than three outs this season, and he did just that in the victory. David Bednar then retired the Giants in order in the 9th with a pair of strikeouts to pick up his 10th save of the season and first since April 29th.

For most of the season the Pirate bullpen has been a surprising strength. That continued in their series victory over the Giants, including a victory in the second game of the series that was sparked by the 'pen.