Me: “Hello, 9-1-1? I have an emergency! The Pirates bullpen is on fire!”
9-1-1: “You again?”
Yes, me again. And I’ll keep calling until general manager Ben Cherington cleans up his mess. Today would be good, after one of the Pirates’ most devastating losses in a decade.
You probably know by now that they led 8-3 going into the bottom of the seventh and 9-5 going into the bottom of the eighth and somehow lost to the Houston Astros, 11-9, on Wednesday night.
And when I mention “worst losses of the decade,” almost all of the Pirates’ games over the span haven’t mattered, so how devastating could they have been? This one mattered.
They’d moved to five games over .500 again. They still haven’t been six games over. Henry Davis hit a dramatic grand slam. Everybody else in the NL Central lost. And along comes the bullpen to lift a leg on what should have been a sure win.
This has now moved far past ridiculous. Find a veteran reliever to stabilize the situation. Overpay. Give up a good prospect or two.
DO SOMETHING!
The Pirates are tied for second in the majors with 16 blown saves. Their bullpen ERA of 4.33 is fourth-worst in the NL. In terms of save percentage, they stand at a pathetic 48%, third-worst.
Compare that to the Brewers, who at 70% aren’t perfect, but that’s tied for sixth in the majors.
I’ve argued for acquiring Aroldis Chapman out of Boston. Ex-major leaguer Matt Clement on 93.7 The Fan said another option could be Chapman’s teammate, Garrett Whitlock.
I don’t care if it’s Jason Whitlock at this point.
Please, for the love of Joel Hanrahan, do something.
It’s great that Carmen Mlodzinski is now pitching out of the pen (or at least watching out of the pen) — he’s their best right-handed option — but I’m not sure a guy who has allowed 80 baserunners in 55 innings is going to ease many nerves.
Manager Don Kelly has reached the point where he is praising relievers who failed. This was him after Wednesday’s loss: “I thought Yohan (Ramirez) did a really nice job tonight, coming into that situation and getting the third out and then giving us two innings out of the pen.”
Ramirez gave up a two-run home run! He let the Astros back in the game! He did well getting Paul Skenes (who had yet another disappointing start) out of a jam but ended up surrendering two hits and two runs in 2⅓ innings. That’s a 7.71 ERA for the night! That’s not a nice job!
The fire was lit by the time Mason Montgomery entered, and after two quick strikeouts he started spraying gasoline like it was champagne in a championship locker room.
In his past two appearances, Montgomery has given up four hits, three walks and five runs in 1⅓ innings.
When the Astros recorded the final out thanks to Josh Hader, who just returned from injury to bolster their bullpen, SNP’s Greg Brown said, “Another incredibly tough loss. And a bad loss for this Pirates team, who can’t seem to find an answer for their bullpen.”
He added, “The Pirates know it. They’re working to figure out the bullpen … to get some desperate help.”
Hello, 9-1-1?