MILWAUKEE — The Pirates' bullpen has undergone a makeover since the start of the season. Steven Brault was moved to the rotation, only to go back to the bullpen after five starts. Josh Smoker was sent to Triple-A. Enny Romero was claimed off waivers, designated for assignment and promptly placed on the disabled list when his agent informed the Pirates that he had injured his shoulder.
Felipe Rivero became Felipe Vázquez, and more important, the team's closer has not been as dominant as he was one year ago. Tyler Glasnow has shown flashes of brilliance, followed by an inability to throw quality strikes. Still, the bullpen had emerged as a strength in recent weeks with Edgar Santana and Richard Rodriguez providing stability in middle relief.
However, the bullpen's role in the Pirates' 5-3 loss to the Brewers at Miller Park on Saturday night was a reminder that the group is still very much a work in progress. Kyle Crick, the right-hander acquired in the Andrew McCutchen trade, gave up two runs in the seventh, and George Kontos, the team's setup man, allowed a go-ahead, two-run double to Ryan Braun in the eighth, as the Pirates dropped to 2 1/2 games back of the first-place Cardinals.
The pair walked a combined four batters, and Crick threw a pair of wild pitches.
"We haven’t had that type of situation where the walks have become that much of an issue out of the bullpen," Clint Hurdle said afterward. "For whatever reason, tonight they were."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEODespite the bullpen's recent success, it ranks among the worst in the majors in ERA (20th), WHIP (27th), runs allowed (18th) and walks (20th). Opponents are batting .256 against Pirates relievers — the eighth-highest mark in the league — and 43 percent of their inherited runners have scored.
Kontos, a 32-year-old right-hander acquired from the Giants last August, was named the team's setup man before the start of spring training. He excelled in that role with the Pirates late last season, but he has been inconsistent through the first five weeks of the season.
With the score tied in the eighth, Kontos allowed a leadoff double down the third-base line to Domingo Santana and walked Eric Sogard with two outs. Then, Braun connected on a hanging slider, and the ball left the barrel of his bat at 106.7 mph to give the Brewers a second lead in as many innings:
"With George, sometimes George moves the ball around on purpose," Hurdle said. "Tonight I think his cutter played better than his slider and the slider was the last pitch Braun was able to hit. George has the experience, he’s been there. You don't have to worry about the game speeding up on him. It was just execution of pitches."
That has been the issue for Kontos throughout the season. He's allowed 16 hits in 15 1/3 innings with five walks to only four strikeouts. To compare, he had 15 strikeouts to three walks in his 14 2/3 innings with the Pirates last season.
Opponents have a .746 OPS against him, and he's allowed 9.39 hits per nine innings. Additionally, he's allowed at least one hit or one walk in 10 of his 16 appearances. Kontos' whiff rate for his cutter and slider have reached a career low. He isn't a strikeout pitcher, but the ability to produce swing-and-miss is necessary in a late-inning role.
A change is unlikely. Michael Feliz, who struck out three of the five batters he faced in a scoreless seventh inning Friday, is averaging 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings this season and has been scored upon only twice in 16 outings. But he's averaging 3.9 walks per nine innings and right-handers are batting .300 against him.
The Pirates lost both Juan Nicasio and Tony Watson last season; however, they did not sign a free agent to a major-league contract in the offseason, opting instead for a number of arms on minor-league contracts, including Rodriguez. Also, they acquired Feliz from the Astros and Crick from the Giants.
Last season, Crick, 25, only pitched once in the fifth inning or later with a tie or lead of less than four runs. His only high-leverage situation for the Pirates this season was in the 10th inning of a loss to the Phillies two weeks ago, and he struggled when called upon Saturday.
With the score tied in the seventh inning, Crick walked three batters and allowed an RBI single to Christian Yelich. The right-hander threw a pair of wild pitches and another run scored on a passed ball to give the Brewers a 3-1 lead. Crick explained afterward that his fastball was cutting across the plate, making it difficult for him to throw strikes.
"I definitely felt some more adrenaline, but I like that," he said. "I don’t think the situation factored in. I just need to handle it better. … Today was one of those days where I didn’t execute nearly as many as I probably could have."
The Pirates' offense, silenced by crafty right-handed starter Jhoulys Chacin, answered. Josh Hader, a hard-throwing lefty, entered in the eighth to face the top of the order, and he walked Gregory Polanco with one out. Then, Starling Marte hit his second home run in as many days, scorching an elevated four-seamer over the wall in right to tie the score again:
The Pirates finished with only four hits, and they are 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position during the first two games of the series. Marte, Polanco and Adam Frazier accounted for all four of their hits while the rest of the lineup went a combined 0 for 23 with eight strikeouts and two walks.
Jameson Taillon failed to pitch through the sixth inning for the third time in his last four starts, yet he allowed only one run through five innings and threw 54 of his 85 pitches for strikes before Hurdle turned to the bullpen.
"I had a little more traffic than I would have liked, but overall the stuff felt really good tonight," Taillon said. "The stat sheet might have showed it was kind of a grind or battle, but I didn’t really feel like I needed to be battling as much as I did. The stuff felt great coming out [of my hand]."
Santana pitched a scoreless sixth inning before Crick and Kontos allowed a combined four runs on three hits. The Pirates, now 18-16, have lost five of their last six games but will go for the series win Sunday afternoon.
1. Taillon searching for answers.
Prior to his six-inning start against the Nationals earlier this week, Taillon took a closer look at how he was attacking hitters, specifically how his pitches were playing off of each other. He also tweaked his changeup grip, which helped him finish the sixth inning in Washington D.C.
This start, his seventh of the season, showed more progress; however, he's still struggling to take advantage of two-strike counts. Taillon needed 33 pitches to get through the fourth inning, when he walked Travis Shaw, despite getting ahead with two strikes. Then, he allowed a one-out, RBI double to Hernan Perez on a 1-2 count.
Opponents are batting .253 against Taillon during two-strike counts, which is the second-highest mark in the majors among qualifying pitchers. He struck out only two batters Saturday night, and he produced only five swinging strikes. To compare, Nick Kingham produced 16 swinging strikes in his major-league debut.
"I’ve been getting ahead of guys," Taillon said. "Kind of the story of my year so far. Two-strike hits, not being able to put guys away with two strikes. Guys putting the ball in play too much with two strikes. Doing something right to get ahead of the count, but need to put the foot to the pedal there and put them away."
Taillon has a 1.28 WHIP in 36 2/3 innings, yet the Pirates have lost each of his last four starts. He was at only 85 pitches through five innings when Hurdle chose to turn to the bullpen.
"He still comes out with some building blocks to take into his next one," Hurdle said.
2. Santana emerging as reliable option.
With Shaw, a left-hander, set to lead off the sixth inning, Hurdle chose to pull Taillon in favor of Edgar Santana. It may have appeared to some as a peculiar choice, but Shaw forced Taillon into a three-ball count in each of his first two at-bats and Perez, also due up in the inning, has excelled against Taillon throughout his career.
Also, Santana has become arguably the Pirates' most reliable reliever, and he's been outstanding against left-handers. Lefties batted .357 with a .486 on-base percentage against Santana last season, but they're batting only .148 with a .333 on-base percentage this year.
Santana promptly retired the Brewers in order, getting Shaw and Domingo Santana to ground out before striking out Perez to end the sixth inning and preserve the tie.
Santana, 27, has a 1.00 WHIP and opponents are batting only .189 against him in 14 innings. He has 14 strikeouts to four walks. To compare, he had a 1.56 WHIP with 20 strikeouts, 12 walks and a .780 OPS against in 18 innings for the Pirates last season.
"I think he’s settling in as far as believing he belongs, but he has to go out and pay the rent every day," Hurdle said. "He looks forward to the competition. There’s still work he can do. You saw some pitches get away from him a little bit. I think he still gets amped up in certain situations, but he worked through a very challenging part of their lineup tonight. He’s been a nice addition out there for us."
3. Frazier with a heads-up play in the third.
Frazier has been scrutinized for his defense and rightfully so. He has an ultimate zone rating of negative-1.2 and has been replaced late in games by Sean Rodriguez, including all three games of the Pirates' series against the Cardinals last weekend. In addition to some lapses at second base, his cut-off throws to home plate have been inconsistent.
That must have appeared on the scouting report. With runners on the corners and one out in the third, Jesus Aguilar hit a pop fly to shallow right-center that Frazier tracked and caught. Cain, who stole at least 26 bases in three of the past four years, tagged from third to try to score.
However, Frazier's throw was accurate this time and Cervelli applied the tag for an inning-ending double play. Taillon punched the palm of his glove several times and thanked Cervelli before standing near the dugout waiting to see if the play would be reviewed.
"If [Cain] was my teammate, I like the aggressive play. But I love the throw by Frazier there," Taillon said. "That was big. I don't want to be counting on double plays, but I'll take them when I can get them."