PIRATES

GETTY

The Athletics' Jeff McNeil hits a two-run home run off Jared Jones in the fourth inning Monday in Sacramento, Calif.

The Pirates have now used Carmen Mlodzinski as a long relief option to piggyback Jared Jones in three of his four starts since being activated from the 60-day injured list. That includes the Pirates' 11-2 loss to the Athletics, an eighth defeat in the last 10 games and one that dropped them to a game under the .500 mark for the first time since March 31, here tonight at Sutter Health Park. 

It's an approach the club has been committed to, and up until tonight, it's resulted in two wins and some OK performances from both Jones and Mlodzinski. It's also a strategy that has taken an arm away, aside from nights in which Jones is starting, from a bullpen that lacks collective dependability. 

Mlodzinsk has had past success coming out of the bullpen and is capable of being a valuable asset, whether that be in a long relief capacity or in shorter outings that allow for him to operate with more availability. But how valuable can he be if he's in need of the same type of rest the other starting pitchers are in need of?

A starter's amount of rest will now be needed once again after Mlodzinski, who entered in the fifth inning with the Pirates trailing 5-1, threw 75 pitches -- the same total as Jones -- over three innings in relief. He gave up six runs (one earned) on seven hits, including a three-run homer to Nick Kurtz in the seventh.

Things were lopsided in a five-run game after Mlodzinski threw 22 pitches in the fifth, his first inning of work. But Kelly stuck with him and let him ride out the next three innings before turning things over to Dennis Santana in the eighth. 

"It was 6-1. He kept it right there," Kelly said. "I think with our offense, 6-1 against the Dodgers at home, to be at this ballpark with our offense, I feel like we’ve done that before. We’ve been able to put up some runs. You saw some of the balls that got out today for them. We can do that, too. But when it got to 11, that’s definitely too far."

Kelly knows the impact this will have on a bullpen that will seemingly be limited to seven arms over the next four games on this road trip. But he's also aware that guys are going to have to fill innings on nights when Jones starts, especially considering the high pitch counts he's experienced over his four short outings. 

"Whether it’s Carmen filling that right now or other guys who come in and fill those innings on the back side, we would have had to use three or four guys to do what Carmen did tonight," Kelly said, adding that Mlodzinski isn't locked into a piggyback role with Jones. "Carmen only went three innings tonight. As we sit here tonight, I would not anticipate Carmen being slotted in definitely behind Jared next time."

Mlodzinski said he wasn't surprised with how he was deployed tonight, especially given the past success of the offense and the trust that exists in that unit's ability to rally back from any deficit. Add in the fact that Jones wasn't going to make it past the fourth inning and Mlodzinski knew he was in a position where he needed to provide some length, so that's what he focused on doing. 

"In that situation, I'm definitely the available length guy to kind of go in and cover those innings and try to keep the game close," said Mlodzinski, who continues to reiterate his desire to do "whatever is going to help the team win." 

"I think you look at the past few days — (Wilber) Dotel goes on the IL, he was in length, and then they optioned Antwone (Kelly). Those two guys, obviously, they were starting in the minors, and those were both expected to be length guys. I think today it was we just needed somebody to cover things to get through 5 through 8 or 5 through 9 today."