Ben Cherington did a marvelous job fixing the Pirates lineup this season.

Now it’s time to fix the bullpen.

I sort of defended the Pirates bullpen recently. There is no defending it now, in the wake of the towering inferno that was the 11-9 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.

This is getting worse. The Pirates blew leads of 6-0 and 8-3 and finally 8-5 going into the ninth inning. Even the likes of Gregory Soto and Mason Montgomery — who have been mostly excellent — succumbed on Friday.

To be fair, it was a Konnor Griffin error that opened the door for the powerful Phillies lineup in the ninth. But the bullpen has declined badly over the past three weeks after a solid start and threatens to blow up everything Cherington has built.

The Pirates remained at 24-21 going into Saturday’s game — on pace to win 86 games — but this might be a year where 90 wins are required to make the playoffs. You can’t be losing 8-3 leads.

Bullpen conflagrations will happen over 162 games. Just not this many, this early. The margin for error is too thin. The Pirates bullpen, which ranks 10th in the NL and 19th in the majors in ERA, has already blown 11 saves.

It backslid five spots in ERA in the past week alone and has been hovering between six and seven for the past three weeks. In its past seven outings, it has given up 17 runs in 26 innings.

Of particular concern is veteran Dennis Santana, who was expected to close bunches of games this season. He’s never been a huge strikeout guy, but he has zero strikeouts in his past seven outings. That’s not gonna work, especially when you mix it with all the baserunners he allows.

In 18 innings, Santana has given up 18 hits and nine walks to go with just 10 strikeouts. He’s sporting a 4.42 ERA. Hitters just look too comfortable against him.

Isaac Mattson has gone south after a good start. Yohan Ramirez implodes too much. Same for Justin Lawrence. The list goes on. Cherington already has made some changes. More are needed.

A major bright spot lately has been lefty Evan Sisk, who has 21 strikeouts against four walks and has not allowed a run in six May appearances.

The return of Jared Jones might help. If Jones enters the rotation, Carmen Mlodzinski could add some juice to the bullpen. Jones, if he starts in the pen (doubtful), could really add something to a group that needs a jolt of electricity.

Look at some of the opportunities already lost:

• On April 12, the Pirates blew a 5-0 lead in Chicago — and a chance to sweep the Cubs — when Hunter Barco, Lawrence and Jose Urquidy crumbled.

• On April 18, they squandered a 4-0 lead against Tampa, then gave up two runs in the 11th in an 8-7 loss. Cam Sanders and Ramirez were the culprits.

• Isaac Mattson, Ramirez, Lawrence struggled in a 7-6 loss at San Francisco where the Pirates blew several leads, including a two-run lead in the 10th.

Again, these things will happen in a long season. They’re just happening too often here.

Cherington must act.