PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates needed eight runs to win a 12-inning affair against the Marlins on Saturday at PNC Park, but the MVP of the game -- and the series so far -- has arguably been their bullpen.
After Chase De Jong scuffled and gave up five runs in five innings, the relief corps gave up only one earned run over the next seven. But this kind of performance isn’t a new trend. This weekend was just a reminder.
“The last two days doesn’t even count,” Kyle Crick said. “It’s been all year. These guys are dogs. They grab the ball and they go for it. They want that ball and they’re not letting go of it.”
The effort actually started Friday, when the bullpen had to pick up Mitch Keller, who exited after two innings with a “heat illness,” per the Pirates. Duane Underwood Jr., who has had to mop up early innings in short starts like these throughout the season, dominated. Chasen Shreve gave more than his usual inning, then Chris Stratton made Saturday’s options plentiful by notching a 3 2/3-inning save.
“That saved our bullpen a lot, and I'm happy for him, and I think all the guys down there are pretty happy for him, too,” Adam Frazier said.
The only earned run the bullpen has given up covering 14 innings in the past two games was allowed by closer Richard Rodríguez, who gave up the game-tying single to Jesús Aguilar in the ninth inning Saturday to blow his second save in the past three attempts.
The right-hander has allowed runs in three of his past four appearances after blazing through his first 19 appearances with only one run on his line. Manager Derek Shelton said Rodríguez’s struggles of late don’t alarm him, as he says it’s just been a couple of bad pitches leading to runs on his line.
“He got a pitch up to Aguilar, who is a really good hitter, and he hit it for a base hit, but he bounced back and executed pitches,” Shelton said. “The least of my worries at any point is Richard Rodríguez."
Seven of the Pirates’ bullpen arms have ERAs under 3 this season. Five of those seven pitched on Saturday: Crick (1.59), Rodríguez (1.85) Sam Howard (2.53), Clay Holmes (2.73) and David Bednar (2.91).
A couple of those guys also had to prevent runs in unconventional ways, including Crick, who pitched two innings for the first time since May 18, 2018. He allowed the automatic runner to score on a sac fly in the 10th inning, but he didn’t allow a hit to the Marlins and threw two of his nastiest sliders to strike out José Devers with a runner on third and two outs in the 11th.
Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings said when he calls for Crick’s slider -- which leads the Majors by a large margin in spin rate at 3,344 rpm, ahead of Tyler Matzek’s 3,022 rpm (min. 100 pitches) -- he has to set up on the outside part of the plate to left-handed hitters before catching it near the batter’s back foot.
“It’s just good to see him healthy,” said Stallings, who hit the walk-off single for the Pirates in the 12th. “Like you said, it’s a wipeout slider, and that’s how it was in ’19, before he had some of the injuries. It’s really good to see him throwing that thing.”
Howard also entered to pitch two innings for the first time this season, striking out two batters in a scoreless outing. Bednar drew six whiffs on 19 pitches. Holmes went three up, three down without allowing the Marlins to score the automatic runner in the 12th.
Needless to say, the Pirates feel like they can pitch nearly any of their bullpen guys in any situation given the collective dominance they’ve shown both in the short and long term this season.
“I can't sing those guys' praises enough,” De Jong said. “Those guys down there are animals. They are getting the job done night in and night out, and they are some of the most competitive guys that I've ever been around.”