The Pirates were defeated 10-4 coming off of Mitch Keller‘s 5th inning blowup, where he gave up 6 runs after starting the game perfectly through 4 innings. The offense was also quite abysmal, going 1-9 with RISP and only mustering 6 hits throughout the game. The Pirates blew a 3-0 lead, and the bullpen only made matters worse, as Brandan Bidois and Justin Lawrence surrendered another 4 runs as the Rockies made the Pirates look like a little league team. The Pirates are now 23-20 and have not won more than 3 games in a row since the Reds and Orioles series during the second week of the season. Jim and I recap the tough loss on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti’s Bros. You can watch/listen below:
Here’s my 3 takeaways from this disappointing smackdown.
Bullpen Changes are Desperately Needed
The Pirates didn’t lose the game because of the bullpen, but the pen did put the game completely out of reach for a potential comeback. Bidois came in to make his MLB debut and left a couple meatballs hanging and gave up a home run, showing the reasons why he had such a rough ERA in Triple-A this season. Bidois is a talented guy and was the Pirates reliever of the year in 2025, but his location and command have led to him walking lots of batters and giving up tanks like he did Wednesday night.
Justin Lawrence has probably reached the end of his time on the roster, as he was called upon to mop up the 9th inning and instead gave up 3 runs. The once promising arm they got from the Rockies is now rocking an ERA over 6 on the season and has been unable to get outs consistently since the start of the year. Wilber Dotel or Carmen Mlodzinski (when Jared Jones is recalled) should probably be the names that take his place, because the Pirates cannot sit around and be complacent in a year where the playoffs are a real possibility. While the Pirates bullpen is league average in ERA, they have fallen apart in the most untimely of situations that have cost the Pirates several games this season.
Mitch Keller Needs a Finisher
Mitch Keller has been stellar this season right up to the 5th inning of Wednesday’s game. Keller was dealing a perfect game through 4 innings before surrendering 6 runs to the Rockies, capped off by a moonshot by Mickey Moniak. Keller, until then, had done an amazing job limiting hard contact, limiting home runs, and getting outs in an efficient manner. However, his strikeouts per 9 are now at a career low, at 6.49. This follows a trend that has been happening every single season, as he has dropped by one strikeout per nine each year since 2023. Keller doesn’t need to reach his 9.73 like he was 3 seasons ago, but he does need to get a bump up on the strikeout rate. The drop in strikeout rate is one of the reasons he falls off the pace in the 2nd half of every season. As teams get more film and knowledge on how he pitches throughout a year, it becomes much easier to get hits off of them when they don’t have to worry about lots of swings and misses. I really like that Mitch has been using a larger arsenal when pitching this year; now they need to find a knockout punch that he can pull out when he is in trouble, or we will see more 5th innings this season.
This is a Missed Opportunity
The Pirates are currently playing at an 87-win pace this season, as they’ve done a very good job winning the majority of their series and avoiding prolonged losing streaks. The Pirates are even 6-4 in their last 10, which is something that is hard to complain about. However, the Pirates have been unable to string together more than 3 wins in a row since the second week of the season. Because of this, they have not been able to make up ground on teams like the Cubs and Brewers, and they have thrown away games that really should’ve been wins. Wednesday night was a blowout, but it is still a good example; when you are up 3-0 against the Rockies and your starter is throwing a perfect game into the 5th, you need to win that game. The Bucs are still in a good spot, and I think they’re a good team, but they are throwing away games that we are going to agonize together over in September during a tight playoff push.
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