'Just a gritty group of guys:' New-look bullpen among baseball's best

CHICAGO -- It was the type of leverage spot that you would want your ace reliever for. Seiya Suzuki, the early season league leader in OPS, was up to bat with the tying run 90 feet away and two outs in the seventh.

Enter David Bednar, who told him good morning, good afternoon and good night with three straight fastballs.

"I just want to be aggressive with it," was Bednar's approach. He did just that.

It was one of the few times the Pirates' bullpen had to sweat Thursday. Bednar, Wil Crowe, Dillon Peters, Heath Hembree and Chris Stratton combined to go six shutout innings, allowing a combined one hit and one walk while striking out 10 to spark a comeback win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, 4-3.

Just how rare is a combined outing like that? Well, it hasn't happened in over 20 years, and even then, that was hardly the same situation:

That type of bullpen work is exemplary, but not completely unexpected given the unit's performance so far this year. While the results with starting pitchers has been shaky at best through the team's first 13 games, the bullpen has been one of the best in baseball, leading the senior circuit in batting average against (.165) with a combined 2.79 ERA.

"Everybody knows anybody is capable of doing their job," Bednar said. "Like you saw tonight, you start with Crowe and go all the way through Stratton. Top to bottom, everybody threw strikes, everybody got outs. You do that, good things happen."

Starting at the top, Crowe picked up seven outs, five via the punchout. Of all pitchers who have thrown at least 10 innings this year, Crowe's 34.1% strikeout rate is seventh-best in baseball, just ahead of three recent Cy Young winners: Corbin Burnes, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

Compared to where he was a year ago, Crowe is visibly more confident on the rubber this year, marching around the mound when he sits a batter down. He's done plenty of that, allowing just eight base runners in his 12 innings, none of which have scored, and that confidence is carrying over to the rest of the bullpen.

"We have confidence in one another," Crowe told me. "We have confidence in ourselves. We really believe in the plans that we have to go against the other guys."

That confidence comes with many pitchers performing in new roles. Crowe led the team in starts a year ago and had barely been used as a reliever before this season. Peters is also new to the bullpen.

Peters retired both batters he faced Thursday, extending his hitless batters streak to 25, the most for a Pirates reliever since at least 1974, according to Stats by Stats.

Hembree, Stratton... the bullpen just blowed Cubs hitters away.

"We just kind of ran through our script," Shelton said. "[Pitching coach] Oscar [Marin] and [game planning and strategy coach] Radley [Haddad] did an unbelievable job with where we were at. We got fortunate a couple of times where it lined up with where the last out was, but I think it's a credit to our guys because they're really embraced pitching in different roles coming into the game."

Piggybacks and bulk relievers have become a norm early in the season because they have been mostly successful. That bullpen deployment may need to change next month when rosters are cut to 26 players again. Until then, expect more of the same in terms of deployment, and don't be surprised if they have another group outing like Thursday in them.

"I think it's just a gritty group of guys," Bednar said. "I think everybody has their intentions to come and win everyday, and when you do that, good stuff happens."

GETTY

Daniel Vogelbach is congratulated after homering in the third inning Thursday.

• Make that six comeback wins for the Pirates, and their third of at least three runs. Bryse Wilson was erratic, allowing two runs on three walks and a hit in the first and another tally in the second. He was pulled after just three frames.

The Pirates' offense came courtesy of their two free agent first baseman signings. Daniel Vogelbach cut into a 3-0 deficit with a two-run shot to right-center. Two innings later, Yoshi Tsutsugo got off the schneid and dropped a two-out, two-strike two-run double to give the Pirates the lead. It was his first extra-base hit of the season.

• Vogelbach has been everything the Pirates could have hoped for as the primary leadoff hitter thus far, slashing .316/.395/.579 with three home runs in the early part of the season.

I threw an idea out to him Thursday, asking if he noticed pitchers are attacking him differently because he's batting leadoff. He waved that off, saying he was being pitched the same way when he was in the middle of the order.

"It's why hitting in the big leagues is so hard," he told me. "Everybody has a game plan for everybody."

• It didn't result in a run, but Reynolds' hustle triple in the seventh will go down as one of the best head's up baseball plays of the year.

After poking a ball down the third base line, Reynolds noticed that because of the shift, nobody was covering third. 

"I figured I could beat ‘em to third," Reynolds said. "Already had momentum."

He did:

Reynolds needed a hit like that, mired in a 4-for-23 slump with a dozen strikeouts over his last six games, including watching one down the pipe in the eighth inning Thursday.

"I’m taking pitches I normally don’t take. Swinging at stuff I don’t swing at. It’s frustrating, but we got time."

• Before the game, the Pirates selected the contract of Chase De Jong from Class AAA Indianapolis. To make room for him on the major-league roster, Roansy Contreras was optioned to Indianapolis and Luis Oviedo was designated for assignment.

I have more on those moves here.

• Factoid of the night: Reynolds' triple had an exit velocity of 49.4 mph. That is the softest hit batted ball that resulted in a triple in the Statcast era (since 2015).

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: OF Anthony Alford (hand), LHP Sam Howard (back), RHP Duane Underwood (hamstring), RHP Max Kranick (forearm)

• 60-day injured list: OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
4. Yoshi Tsutsugo, 1B
5. Michael Chavis, 2B
6. Ben Gamel, LF
7. Cole Tucker, RF
8. Roberto Pérez, C
9. Hoy Park, SS

And for David Ross' Cubs:

1. Rafael Ortega, RF
2. Seiya Suzuki, DH
3. Wilson Contreras, C
4. Ian Happ, LF
5. Frank Schwindel, 1B
6. Jonathan Villar, 2B
7. Jason Heyward, CF
8. Patrick Wisdom, 3B
9. Nico Hoerner, SS

THE SCHEDULE

The Pirates and Cubs will play day games through the weekend. José Quintana (0-1, 3.86) will take on Drew Smyly (1-0, 0.00) and his old club, with first pitch coming at 2:20 p.m. Eastern. I've got you covered.

THE CONTENT

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