PITTSBURGH — The premise of a bullpen game for the 2021 Pirates can be a troubling thought.
Since the trade deadline came and went, and especially with right-handers David Bednar and Duane Underwood Jr. on the injured list, the Pirates’ bullpen has a decided lack of proven pitchers at their disposal.
But with further injuries to starters JT Brubaker and Steven Brault, the Pirates needed the bullpen to cover Thursday’s game against the Reds. It went as well as could be expected, with the relievers pitching nine innings of one-run ball. Still, somehow, the Pirates found a way to lose, with the offense failing to rally around anything at all in a 1-0 loss.
The Pirates’ starter, right-hander Connor Overton, is a good example of the general dearth of proven commodities in the Pirates’ bullpen right now. He had made one appearance with the Pirates before Thursday and five MLB appearances in total.
The right-hander was claimed off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays on Sept. 6, called up to the Pirates on Sept. 11 and pitched one scoreless inning Sept. 12. He had never started a game in the majors.
And yet, Wednesday night, manager Derek Shelton announced that Overton would be getting the nod to start against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday. Most Pirates fans hearing the news probably would have shrugged their shoulders or wondered why they hadn’t heard of Overton before.
In the end, he was solid, if not downright good. Overton tossed three scoreless innings on two hits and a walk, keeping his career MLB ERA at 0.00 and at least eating some innings.
Left-hander Sam Howard pitched a scoreless inning of his own before right-hander Cody Ponce took the bump. Ponce would have been a good candidate to start the game himself, having already started five times in his MLB career. But he took the middle innings and was also good, allowing one run on a sacrifice fly over three frames.
The Pirates will take that effort from Ponce every time. In this game, though, there was no margin for error. Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes and left fielder Ben Gamel had two hits apiece, but the Pirates had just six hits total, all of them singles. They got six runners into scoring position but went 0-for-7 as a team in those situations.
The only real moments when the Pirates seemed primed to score came early. Hayes singled to lead off the first, then center fielder Bryan Reynolds reached on an error. But Hayes was picked off second and first baseman Colin Moran hit a weak ground ball into the shift to end any semblance of a threat.
Gamel reached third with one out in the second. With the infield in, though, catcher Michael Perez hit a hot-shot grounder to second. Gamel took off on contact and was thrown out easily at the plate.
In the ninth, they tried one more time, with Gamel making it to second with one out. Perez flew out to center, though, and second baseman Hoy Park struck out, ending the game.
Adding to another oddity in this season, this loss marked the 14th time that the Pirates have entered the final game of a series with the chance to sweep. They are now 0-14 in those games. If they finish the season without a series sweep, it will be the first time in franchise history and the seventh time in MLB history that has happened.
