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

In desperate need of a series victory the Pittsburgh Pirates accomplished just that by taking two of three from the Giants in San Francisco to enter the month of June a game over .500

When the Pittsburgh Pirates arrived in San Francisco after being walked off in Seattle on Sunday to suffer another series loss, the team had their backs against the wall. Sitting at .500 overall on the season while being 0-7-1 in series played in May, the bottom appeared to be falling out.

After getting clubbed to start the series to fall under .500 for the first time since the team was 1-2, the Pirates were able to rally to capture their first series victory of May. It will also end up their only series victory in May.

After taking two of three from the Giants the Pirates are now 28-27 overall on the season. The Pirates are now 8-7-1 in series played this season, and they will enter the month of June 1.0 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the National League Central.

Following an off day on Thursday the Pirates will begin a three-game weekend series at PNC Park against the St. Louis Cardinals. Before we shift focus to that series let's take one more look back at the Pirates taking two of three from the Giants with some takeaways from the series.

The team shows a lot of resiliency

This was a series in which the Pittsburgh Pirates easily could have folded. They had not won a series in the entire month of May, were walked off by the Seattle Mariners on Sunday afternoon, and then got spanked by the Giants in game one of the series on Monday.

All signs pointed toward yet another series loss and an 0-for in series played in May. To their credit, the team showed a lot of resiliency. Derek Shelton's group pulled up their bootstraps to win the final two games of this series, picking up their first, and only, series victory of May.

Most Pirate fans, myself included, expected this team to fold up and suffer yet another series loss after the game one blowout. While the month of May was a brutal one for the Pirates they deserve a lot of credit for the way they finished this series to finish the month on a strong note.

Remarkably, despite going 8-18 in the month of May and 1-7-1 in series played, the Pittsburgh Pirates were able to finish the month of May over .500 at 28-27. This is due to the team responding well to rally and win their series in San Francisco.

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.