Much of what has been going wrong lately for the Pittsburgh Pirates suddenly — and collectively — went right on Wednesday night.

And it came at the absolute right time.

After losing four straight games, on the verge of giving the Cardinals the first two contests of a three-game series in St. Louis, the Pirates took many wobbly aspects of their game and straightened them out all at once during a 7-0 victory at Busch Stadium.

Most notably, the bullpen.

• Pittsburgh relievers have yielded 108 runs in 2026. Only three National League teams have allowed more. The bullpen’s WHIP is fourth-worst in the NL at 1.36, and it has converted just eight of 20 save opportunities.

Wednesday night, though, relievers Yohan Ramirez, Evan Sisk, Justin Lawrence and Dennis Santana combined for four innings of shutout baseball. They allowed just one hit along the way.

• That work was on the back of a strong start from Carmen Mlodzinski. He’s the only Pirates starter to earn a win since Paul Skenes’ eight shutout innings against the Colorado Rockies on May 12.

Over his last three games (two starts, one in long relief after an opener), Mlodzinski is 2-1. He has allowed just four earned runs in 16 innings to get his ERA down to 3.96. As recently as May 7, it was sitting at 4.76.

• When things did get dicey for the bullpen in the sixth, it was the often-spotty outfield defense that bailed out the team. With one out, the bases were loaded courtesy of a single, a walk and a hit batter.

But after Ramirez got a strikeout, Jake Mangum made a great adjustment on a highlight catch in right field to end the Cardinals’ scoring threat.

St. Louis had just one baserunner the rest of the night.

• The Pirates got six hits with runners in scoring position. That was a pleasant departure. So far in 2026, the Bucs are 20th in Major League Baseball with a .241 RISP average, and 25th in OPS at .682.

Bryan Reynolds had one of those plate appearances in the seventh inning and drove in two runs.

Mangum had two RISP hits. Jhostynxon García had a pair, as well. The first one resulted in his first MLB RBI.

• Pirates hitters made contact and kept the strikeout total down. The lineup had 44 plate appearances and just six strikeouts. On average, this year, the Pirates strike out 9.18 times per game. Their 450 on the season are the third-most in the National League.

 

Related

• Joe Starkey: Carmen Mlodzinski has earned Pirates rotation spot, but here’s the dilemma
• Spencer Horwitz emerging as 1 of Pirates’ most complete hitters
• Carmen Mlodzinski, bullpen sharp as Pirates shut out Cardinals
 

• Not to mention, all this came in a 7-0 win against the Cardinals. That’s the same Cardinals team that had slapped around the Pirates this year to the tune of a 5-0 record in their first five meetings. St. Louis outscored Pittsburgh 39-18 prior to Wednesday night.

Wednesday’s performance was much needed, not only in that the Pirates (25-24) had to stop a four-game losing skid before it spun out of control and dropped them under .500. But it was also important in terms of the way they got the job done — and who they beat.

A lot of perpetual potholes got patched over for at least one night.

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