The Pirates bullpen racked up another blown save as Eugenio Suarez hit a three-run bomb in the 9th inning off Gregory Soto to give the Reds the 9-7 victory in a wild, rain-filled game at PNC Park Saturday. Esmerlyn Valdez hit a pinch-hit solo home run in the 8th that gave the Pirates a 7-6 lead for his second home run in as many games. Brandon Lowe also belted a three-run home run to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead in the third inning for his 20th home run of the season. Jim and Doug broke this one on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti’s Bros. You can watch/listen here:

Here’s my 3 takeaways from this frustrating game…

Bad Defense and Starters Not Going Deep Trickles Down to the Bad Bullpen

We all know this bullpen isn’t good. It’s worst than that, they’re bad. This was their 18th blown save of the season and the Bucs drop to 41-42. But this bullpen also isn’t being helped out by the starters very much. No one right now, not even Paul Skenes is going six innings very consistently. Jared Jones is obviously on a strict 75-pitch count at this point coming back from UCL surgery so he’s not going deeper than five, but then Skenes hasn’t been and then Keller struggled and Bubba doesn’t finish six very often. When a bulk of your starters aren’t going deep into games, it trickles to the bullpen where they’re now asked to handle 4 or 5 innings of nearly perfect baseball in a tight game and this bullpen is unfortunately not equipped to do that. They have a setup man moonlighting as a closer in Soto, they have arguably their best weapon in the pen unavailable most days in Mlodzinski, they’re scared to pitch Santana or Mattson in a big spot (rightfully so), etc. It’s just not good and when the starters struggle and then the defense falters (which they did in this loss), it all trickles down to the bullpen and sinks this team once again.

The Pirates were Basically 2 Key Players Again Down by Choice

Jones exited in the 5th inning and instead of Carmen Mlodzinski coming in to piggyback him, it was a parade of other relievers that ultimately gave up five earned runs and tagged with the blown save and loss. Mlodzinski tossed 39 pitches on Wednesday despite the Pirates pulling ahead of the Mariners by 10 runs. There was speculation that he possibly could be available by Saturday, but guess not. Once again the Pirates play a man down in the bullpen with one of their better (best?) relievers.

Konnor Griffin returned from the IL Friday night and went 2-for-4 with a leadoff home run, but he sat in this game as Don Kelly said before the game that they’re going to “ease him in.” You couldn’t ease him in as a DH and get his bat in the lineup? The Pirates made the choice to literally go two players down by choice to play this game. One could be their Swiss Army knife weapon in the bullpen and the other is the 20-year-old phenom who’s been raking since his 20th birthday. Nothing to see here though except the Pirates continuing to hamstring themselves while they struggle to win games against a divisional opponent. There’s just never any urgency with this organization.

Brandon Lowe Hits His 20th

Remember those takes when the Pirates acquired Brandon Lowe? The fan takes were people were saying Lowe’s power wouldn’t translate to PNC Park? WHOOPS. Someone tag Freezing Cold Takes as Lowe’s power looks good not just in all ballparks, but most national parks too.

Lowe belted his 20th home run of the season in this game, a three-run bomb that turned the game from a 2-0 deficit to a 3-2 lead. That’s the game-changing power this lineup produces this season. That’s 20 home runs in 83 games. Lowe’s 20 home runs leads the team, but he also has a chance to become the Pirates first 40-home run hitter since Willie Stargell in 1973. That was 53 years ago. It’s wild to think about, but the Pirates have been lacking this kind of power for decades. In fact, only two Pirates ever has hit 40+ home runs: Stargell and Ralph Kiner. Not bad company. No guarantee Lowe gets there, but it’ll sure be fun to watch to see him try for it. Here’s the full list per Baseball-Reference Stathead: