The NS9 Report is the start to your week. Posted bright and early every Monday morning, I’ll break down the three things that I’m looking for each week in Pirates land.
I have a Problem with the Bullpen Usage
Mason Montgomery got the start Sunday afternoon in Atlanta as the Pirates were looking to avoid the sweep. I said with the NS9 Bullpen Breakdown that Don Kelly should manage this game like it’s Game 7 of the World Series. You had the upcoming off day, you were using an opener, you had Bubba Chandler for after and Gregory Soto, Wilber Dotel and Carmen Mlodzinski were all available to pitch. Montgomery pitched a scoreless first, Bubba then went five scoreless and Kelly brought him back out for the 7th inning. The inning started off with an error by Tyler Callihan so the first batter reaches. Bubba than strikes out Austin Riley, but then walks two straight batters to load the bases. Michael Harris pinch hits and Kelly brings in the lefty Evan Sisk to face Harris. Harris saw the first pitch from Sisk and ripped it for a bases-clearing double. Game 3-2 now. Sisk got the next two outs and then pitched a scoreless 8th inning, but the damage was done at that point. And all of those runs get charged to Bubba, but once again when the game was on the line and the Pirates were ahead, the bullpen immediately throws the lead away.
I get where Kelly was coming from, he wants the lefty/lefty matchup. The problem is Harris isn’t that awful against lefties. In his career, he has a slash line of .269/.303/.427. An OPS of .730. That’s not awful, but whatever. The other problem with this is now you were swept in a series where you didn’t pitch your three best relievers: Dotel, Mlodzinski and Soto. I would have went to Mlodzinski in that spot to be honest. We need a couple outs, go get em Carmen. The issue is that’s not how the Pirates are handling these pitchers. They’re using them as piggyback pitchers or bulk pitchers which is fine to have one of those guys for that role, but two? I don’t agree with that. Carmen is the perfect pitcher to play multiple roles in that bullpen, oh and we’ve seen him do it before and do it very well in the second half of last season. I think the Pirates are misusing Dotel and Mlod, it’s just not the full optimized role. Hell, that was the biggest spot of the game, if you wanted a lefty out there to face Harris, you could have gone right to Soto. Let him try and get out of that jam and then pitch the 8th and then bring on Dotel or Mlod for the save in the 9th. Get creative with these pitchers. If you hold them back to pitch every 4 or 5 days on a schedule from the bullpen, they’re unavailable like 60% of the time. You can’t have two of your best relievers be unavailable 60% of the time.
Bottom line is, you can’t get swept and not use your three best relievers. That’s just unacceptable in my opinion.
Tough Schedule Continues
The Pirates have today’s off day to regroup, but then there’s not much time before you face the second best team in the NL. They just got swept to the best team and now get the back-to-back defending world champs at home for their trouble. The Pirates get a favorable matchup to start with Paul Skenes facing Dodgers starter Eric Lauer. You have to win that opening game. Because on Wednesday, you face Shohei Ohtani, who has a 0.74 ERA in 61.0 innings this season. Yes, that says 0.74 ERA. Oh yeah and the Dodgers lineup is lethal. They’re 42-24 and cruising to another postseason to try and win a third title. The Pirates are still two games over .500 but getting swept in this series and falling back below .500 would be a tough spot to be in especially in a division where the Brewers are running away with things and Cubs and Cardinals aren’t fading.
The Pirates are just 6-7 in Paul Skenes starts and have lost the last four games when he makes a start. Skenes just has to be better and more efficient, the defense behind him needs to be better and the bats need to get out of the funk they’re in coming out of the Braves series that saw them score just 2.67 runs per game that led to them being swept.
Live Tailgate Saturday
This Saturday when the Pirates take on the Marlins, it’s the second NS9 Tailgate of the season. I will be there along with I believe every member of the NS9, including Doug, Neil and Nate! The one in April (despite the rain delay, flying umbrellas through our section and result of the game) was a great time, and I can’t wait to see everyone back out there again for this one. The tailgate starts at high noon and the Pirates/Marlins game will start at 4:05PM. Here’s the info on it with our fancy non-AI Cody graphic:
The tailgate will be in the Canal Lot which is just a block or two up Federal St from PNC Park. Primanti’s once again will cater the event and if you buy tickets through us, you get to come on the field with us to play catch! Here’s the link to purchase tickets which also come with 10 dollars of loaded value that you can use on food and what not at the park:
https://www.gofevo.com/event/Northshore9tailgate0613
We hope to see everyone there for a fun day!
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