6/15/23- By Craig W. Toth – @BucsBasement on Twitter
You don’t make friends with salad.
And the last thing you put in place-at the end of a rebuild-is the bullpen.
Call it overuse (which can’t be at this point, because the Pirates still rank 26th in innings pitched), overexposure, or whatever you want. At this point it doesn’t matter.
Over the past week or so, the blemishes of the Pirates relievers have been put on full display; for everyone to see.
And no I’m not singling out Rob Zastrzny. That’s too easy of a target.
Sure, it all begins with trouble(s) in the starting rotation; but, whenever you get a handed a 5-1 lead-no matter the number of innings required of you-it has to be put on lockdown.
Last night it wasn’t. And unfortunately, it all started with the newest member of the pen, Roansy Contreras.
Following a fairly solid debut by Osvaldo Bido-4IP/4H/1ER/3BB/6K-Contreras came in and had a clean inning. Then the wheels came off.
In the bottom of the sixth, singles and walks led to the Pirates lead dwindling to only one run; and a pitching change to Yohan Ramirez. Even with this swap the walks and singles continued, as the Cubbies ultimately put a 6 spot on the board.
That was all the Northsiders would need, but I guess they wanted a little insurance. Thankfully, Colin Holderman was more than willing to comply; giving up 3 runs on 4 hits in the bottom of the 8th.
The final…your Pittsburgh Pirates 6…the Chicago Cubs 10.
News & Notes
- The cries to have Carlos Santana moved out of cleanup spot in the lineup have been heard loud and clear; just not by Santana himself, as he put the Pirates offense on his back last night. Even with this outburst, the 37 year old is batting .178 with a .581 OPS over his 100+ trips to the plate.
- Plain and simple, Roansy isn’t right. Since the beginning of May he has posted a 9.30 ERA with a 1.83 WHIP and 20 strikeouts to 15 walks across 30 innings of work; all while allowing 7 long balls.
- Over their past 7 appearances the Pirates relievers have posted the following WHIPs: Colin Holderman-2.21, Yohan Ramirez-2.14 and Dauri Moreta-1.31. To me, WHIP is the most accurate predictor for pitching success. If you aren’t putting guys on base, you are less likely to give up runs.
- On a positive note, Cutch did Cutch things. He is now 4 away from 300.
- I will probably jinx him-after talking about the negatives in the bullpen ad nauseam-but, Angel Perdomo now has 11 strikeouts, no walks, 2 hits and 1 run in his first five appearances.
- On the Minor League side of things, there was some movement that might provide some help to the overall pitching depth in the upper levels. On the year Kyle Nicolas.
The Pirates are back at Wrigley today at 8:05 PM EST, as Pittsburgh tries to avoid the sweep.
Johan Oviedo (3-5/4.16 ERA/1.43 WHIP) will take the ball against Marcus Stroman (7-4/2.42 ERA/1.04 WHIP) for the Cubs.
Steel City Pirates 