Pitching falls short again ... and again ... and again in 0-6 Chicago trip

CHICAGO -- Make that four straight games where a reliever took the loss. 

On Thursday, it was Chad Kuhl who allowed a pair of home runs in the seventh inning, setting the game up for extra innings where Wilmer Difo dropped a routine pop up in the 11th.

On Friday, it was another recently converted starter, Shelby Miller, who allowed the deciding shot.

On Saturday, it was Chris Stratton who could not get the final out, walking off the field after the Cubs scored three times with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

And on Sunday, it was Nick Mears:

That Frank Schwindel grand slam in the seventh was the third grand slam of the game -- the second for the Cubs -- and ultimately the dagger in an 11-8 loss at Wrigley Field, capping a four-game sweep and a winless six-game road trip to Chicago for the Pirates.

“We had opportunities to win all four games, and we didn't finish it,” Derek Shelton said. “We didn't make plays, we didn't make pitches, so it's extremely frustrating.”

This one seemed avoidable. Actually, they all did. The Cubs, like the Pirates, were ripped down to the studs at the trade deadline, and their 26-man roster is probably worse than the Pirates’ current roster.

After all, the Pirates would have gotten out of that seventh inning had Colin Moran held o to a relay throw after Ben Gamel’s sensational catch (more on that below). On Saturday, Gamel himself couldn’t make a game-winning catch in the ninth. Difo’s drop on Thursday is self-explanatory.

But it’s almost impressive the Pirates were still hanging onto a lead considering their relievers for the day. Stratton and Chasen Shreve were both out after throwing two innings Saturday, so their relievers, in order Sunday were:

Kyle Keller, who had just been recalled after JT Brubaker was placed on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder discomfort.

Anthony Banda.

Shea Spitzbarth, who was also just recalled after Duane Underwood Jr. was also placed on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder discomfort.

Sam Howard.

Nick Mears.

Luis Oviedo.

Spizbarth was charged with one run, Howard two and Mears, of course, the fourth.

Remember when this group called themselves a bunch of dogs earlier this season? They were the strength of this team. A lot of those guys are gone now: Richard Rodríguez, Kyle Crick, Clay Holmes, Austin Davis. So the opportunity theme this team has been preaching really spread into the bullpen.

Auditioning guys for the rest of this year is fine, but they can’t go into 2022 with the same setup. This group needs to be supplemented, and not just by waiver claims. Their one legitimate free-agent reliever signing -- Shreve -- has worked out nicely. They still have a year of control over him, too, and Stratton is under team control, as well. That is, of course, if they aren’t traded this offseason, which is a possibility for a still rebuilding club that most likely won’t be competing until 2023 at the earliest.

But they can’t go through 2022 without improvements in the bullpen. Wins are still important at this stage of the rebuild, and while not all of the blame can go to the bullpen this series, it did show how far they’ve dropped off from their early-season performance. A couple wins this road trip would have gone a long way toward softening this final month of the season.

• So just what are the Pirates doing with David Bednar?

He was unavailable to pitch Saturday after pitching two innings Thursday. That’s fine. I’m not going to pretend that I am a biomechanics expert. If Shelton, Oscar Marin or someone of their level says he can't go, then he can't go. Simple as that.

But in a day the Pirates were down a couple relievers, he was pigeonholed into the ninth Sunday. An inning the Pirates obviously didn’t pitch.

“Bednar was pitching in the ninth only with Stratton being down,” Shelton said. “If we would have pitched him there, we could have had to cover innings in other places and didn't feel comfortable doing that.”

The reason Shelton hasn’t named Bednar the closer is because he said he wants to use him in the biggest spots of the game. Bases loaded, two outs in the seventh inning of a one-run game is about as high a leverage situation as there can be. 

Assuming Bednar could have also thrown the eighth, the Pirates would have had to figure out some way to pitch the ninth. Mears, Kuhl or someone who has never been in that spot would be asked to close it out in the ninth. That’s admittedly a problem.

Given the alternative, that seems like a fine problem to have.

I’m fine with Bednar being the fireman or the closer. He’s earned the latter title, but the former can have a bigger impact on games if deployed properly. But floating him between the two roles isn’t going to cut it.

• After a pretty middling August and beginning of September where he slashed just .248/.356/.436 and three home runs -- including getting just six hits in his last 30 at-bats -- Bryan Reynolds had a much-need big game Sunday, recording four hits, his first grand slam and a stolen base.

The last Pirate to get at least four hits with a grand slam and a swiped bag was Pie Traynor on May 20, 1927, per a Play Index query.

You could tell he was frustrated of late, slamming a couple bats heading down to first base this road trip after just missing pitches. So the coaching staff talked to him about his bat position and how he was firing off his swing. They tweaked his approach and the results were there.

“I feel like they presented it to me well,” Reynolds said. “I was kind of just focusing on that today."

It’s weird to say someone who had a near .800 OPS over a month-long stretch was slumping, but that might put this mini-slump behind him.

“He had good swings all day and ran the bases well,” Shelton said. “It was really nice to see.”

• Maybe Wil Crowe is part of that 2022 bullpen.

He was lucky he escaped this one with a no-decision. He served up the first grand slam of the game to Matt Duffy in the third. He also allowed a pair of homers of the solo variety in a seven-run performance that lasted just three innings.

“It looked like everything was flat and in the middle of the plate,” Shelton said. “You know you go flat in the middle of the plate in this ballpark on a day when the wind is blowing out, it's not a good combination.”

Since the start of August, Crowe has allowed 25 runs -- 21 earned -- over 25 ⅓ innings. 

The takeaway on the home run he allowed to Jason Heyward in the second was it was a hanging curveball left over the heart of the plate. He did just get Heyward to chase a curve in the dirt the pitch before, but he wasn’t using his changeup in as many leverage pitches. It’s his best pitch.

Perhaps Crowe is best off as a reliever, relying on the changeup, getting an extra tick on his heater and having the breaking stuff be third offerings. That Crowe would probably be more consistently successful than this one.

• This Gamel catch should have come in a winning effort:

“I knew I had to go get it immediately off the bat,” Gamel said. “Luckily it found some leather.”

I asked Gamel if that was the best catch he’s ever had. He joked that he didn’t want to sell himself short, but said it was top two, at least.

Gamel made a couple nice grabs Sunday, atoning for not being able to haul a sinking liner in the ninth inning Saturday that tied the game rather than end it.

“It’s a play that I definitely expect to make 10 out of 10 times,” Gamel said. “Unfortunately I came up a little short on it last night. But it kind of stayed up in the lights and it just kind of got on me quick after it came down and I wasn’t able to make the play. It was a play I needed to make.”

Gamel’s been a good pickup for the club. He’s under team control for 2022. It should be a no-brainer to bring him back.

• Hey, I’m not too proud to admit when I’m wrong. In my introductory Mound Visit on Yoshi Tsutsugo, I was pretty dismissive about the slugger and what he could bring to the Pirates.

With that in mind, here is the video of his seventh home run he’s hit since joining the team on August 16:

He and the Pirates haven’t gone into detail about the mechanical changes he’s made, but looking at video from just before his demotion to the minors and now, it looks like a lot of it is with his leg kick. It’s less pronounced coming up, he lands on his front foot better and it seems like he opens up a little more. All of these can be promising signs:

I still have reservations about his long-term success though. The main argument in that Mound Visit is he has struggled against the fastball since coming to America. While he does have two home runs (one was a 90 mph J.A. Happ fastball, but it counts) and a double against fastballs since joining the Pirates, he is just 4-for-20 against fastballs. That includes him looking at three straight 95 mph Rowan Wick fastballs in the eighth.

He’s clobbering the soft stuff. As long as pitchers keep throwing him that, it’s fine. Until he starts making consistent contact against high velocity pitches, though, there’s going to be a bit of a storm cloud over him.

But right now, he’s clobbering it, so ride it out.

• A bonus takeaway. This game went four hours and 12 minutes.

Four hours and 12 minutes.

I’d have more to say, but I’ve got a flight to catch.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Cole Tucker, CF
2. Yoshi Tsutsugo, RF
3. Jacob Stallings, C
4. Colin Moran, 1B
5. Anthony Alford, LF
6. Wilmer Difo, 2B
7. Kevin Newman, SS
8. Hoy Park, 3B
9. JT Brubaker, RHP

And for Andy Green's Cubs:

1. Rafael Ortega, CF
2. Frank Schwindel, 1B
3. Ian Happ, LF
4. Patrick Wisdom, 3B
5. Matt Duffy, 2B
6. Jason Heyward, RF
7. Robinson Chirinos, C
8. Sergio Alcántara, SS
9. Zach Davies, RHP

THE SYSTEM

• Indianapolis
• Altoona
• Greensboro
• Bradenton

THE SCHEDULE

The Pirates will fly home from the Windy City following the game and will prepare for a nine-game home stand at PNC Park which gets underway Monday night against the Detroit Tigers. DK has you covered Monday. 

THE CONTENT

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