The Pirates grinded out a 3-2 win behind a walkoff double by Nick Yorke in the bottom of the 9th. It wasn’t the prettiest win ever, with the Pirates recording a mere two extra-base hits and no home runs. The pitching tandem of Carmen Mlodzinski and Hunter Barco only allowed two runners to cross the plate for the Orioles over a combined seven innings of work. The Pirates move to 5-3, secure a series win over the Orioles, and are now winners of four straight games. Check out Tyler and Jim’s postgame show here for more Pirates content. The vibes are high in Pittsburgh right now, and these are our takeaways from this game.
Marcell Ozuna, the Clock is Ticking
An eight-game sample size is generally too little to panic about any player, but when you bring in a guy like Ozuna, you expect more than a .074 batting average and an OPS close to .200. In some ways this is normal Ozuna, as he has struck out and walked quite a bit in these first seven games. He has always been a three true outcomes kind of guy, but unfortunately at this moment in time we are getting just two of the three. My big concern is that there are a lot of at-bats where Ozuna just seems lost and uncompetitive at the plate. Even his singular hit today was a slow dribbler to third. He also almost hit into a double play that would have denied the Pirates their first run. He isn’t hitting the ball hard nor is he making enough contact. Slow starts are not uncommon for players, and the Pirates have been lucky enough to win games without any contribution from their DH. However, the margins for making the playoffs are slim, and eventually no production from the DH and cleanup spot will come back to bite the Pirates.
Carmen Mlodzinski Has a Very Important Role to Play for this Team
Carmen Mlodzinski is extremely polarizing as a starter, as many are right to point out that he is most effective in a high leverage bullpen spot. He has shown me to start this season that he has an even more important job he could play, especially come playoff time. He will never have the stuff to be a full time starter who will give you 160+ innings, but I think he is going to be extremely beneficial with helping this young staff. The Pirates do not have many guys who have a full year of MLB starting experience, and what Carmen can do is give you a really good 2-3 innings and in a pinch go 3-4.
This will help manage the load for guys like Jones when healthy, Ashcraft, and Chandler as well as be useful in a playoff game. If a starter like Mitch Keller only gives you 3 innings in a playoff spot, Mlodzinski can step in and bridge the gap to the back of the bullpen if needed. His stat line from today doesn’t seem all that impressive, as he did let eight runners reach base in the 4.2 innings that he pitched. However, give him that piggyback role and I think we see a special player that will be a huge part of the playoff push (if we are lucky to be there).
Dennis Santana, Most Underrated Reliever in Baseball
Dennis Santana once again came into today’s ball game and pitched an easy 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 9th. Santana has been money for the Pirates ever since he was DFA’d by the Yankees. He is not a flashy reliever, but what he lacks in big strike out stuff he makes up for in grit and effectiveness. You can throw him out there in any situation, and you can expect him to deliver a relatively stress free inning.
The numbers themselves are mind blowing, as our friend Ryan posted today that he has appeared in 114 games for Pittsburgh before today. In that span he has posted an ERA of 2.18 and an ERA+ of 194. That eclipses the ERA of both Jason Grilli and David Bednar in their stints here as Pirates closer. In terms of pure production over the last two seasons you have to conclude that he is simply one of the best relievers in the entire sport while getting the publicity of Joe Blanton. And he’s yet to give up a run this season in six appearances. It’s always hard for the Pirates to spend any money on relievers but I think there have to be talks in this front office to get this guy extended in Pittsburgh. He is a reliever that you feel completely calm and at peace with when he enters the game. The next step is to give him a closer entrance that rivals Mark Melancon‘s, he’s earned it.
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