The Pirates secure yet another series win against an NL Central opponent as they take care of the Brewers at the former Miller Park. The Pirates needed extra innings to get the job done and move to 3-3 on the year when they had to play some free baseball. Mitch Keller looked great, the offense did just enough, and the bullpen was on lockdown for five innings. The Pirates are now 16-11 and look to sweep the Brew Crew tomorrow as Carmen Mlodzinski takes the mound to face off against Kyle Harrison.
Keep Beating the NL Central
The Pirates have had to go on the road three times in April to face divisional opponents. In the 8 games they’ve played, the Bucs have gone 6-2 and can secure another win tomorrow. For reference, the Pirates won 7 total games on the road against NL Central teams all of last year. Winning on the road is hard, and winning divisional games can be even harder. The Pirates took a very difficult early schedule full of playoff contenders and divisional teams and have come out the other side 16-11. The pitching and hitting stats say that this team can be a legitimate playoff team, but so do the teams that they have beaten. Milwaukee has been a place I have dreaded going to almost my entire life because of how badly the Bucs usually lose there. Instead, the Pirates rebounded from a tough series loss in Texas to be at least .500 on the current road trip before heading back to Pittsburgh for a four-game set with the St. Louis Cardinals. Seeing this team show up against the good teams of this league makes me ecstatic.
Konnor Griffin Immediately Proving Me Wrong
A couple of days ago I wrote about Konnor Griffin having some struggles and red flags during his short stint in the Majors. However, since he turned 20, he has been destroying the baseball. Yesterday, he hit his first career home run, and today he put up another 2 hits to get his OPS up over .600. He helped the Pirates get runs off of Jacob Misiorowski, who was looking like he was going to blank the Bucs the entire night. The biggest thing for me is that he is elevating the baseball, and it is already showing good results. He was already making good contact and hitting the ball hard, but now he is making the proper adjustments to make him an effective hitter. It’s only been two games, but it is showing why you cannot overreact because a teenager has a slow start to his MLB career and his first 20 games. The lineup is already the deepest the team has had since 2018; getting Konnor Griffin hitting only makes this team more dangerous. The Pirates are scoring 5 runs a game as it stands, and that’s without good hitting from Griffin and guys like Ozuna. He can be the catalyst the Pirates need to secure a playoff spot in an extremely competitive National League.
The Pirates Bullpen Has Some Electric Dudes
The Pirates bullpen has had some struggles with their middle relief guys, but when it comes to their top talent, they have a lot of really good pitchers who are fun to watch. After Mitch Keller exited, the bullpen had to cover 5 innings against a scary Brewers offense. The bullpen rose to the call, allowing 1 run over those innings and walking only 2 to the tune of 0 runs allowed. Four of the guys who featured in tonight’s game had an ERA that was under 2.05, and the only one who isn’t (Mason Montgomery) has dropped his ERA from over 9 to just under 4. Isaac Mattson (1.15 ERA), Dennis Santana (0.69), Gregory Soto (1.98), and Yohan Ramirez (2.04) have all been elite out of the bullpen and have been major contributors to the Pirates being 16-11 early in the season. This group of five arms are all guys who you would feel very comfortable handing the ball to in high-leverage situations no matter what part of the game you are in. I adore that Dennis Santana can slot into the 8th inning like he did tonight and shove at an elite rate without any complaint. It is a bullpen without egos and full of guys who love nothing more than to get opposing hitters out. They have not shown us the levels of the bullpen we saw in the 2013-2015 years, but they are creeping closer.
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