Prior to the Pirates' 10-7 defeat at the hands of the Guardians tonight at PNC Park, Derek Shelton acknowledged that Carmen Mlodzinski is still in the process of getting his feet wet as a starting pitcher. 

Mlodzinski, who made 70 big-league relief appearances over the last two seasons, has primarily had to adjust to navigating through an opposing team's lineup the second and third time through. After this latest outing, it seems like it's still a work in progress. 

Mlodzinski held the Guardians at bay for the first two innings, surrendering a hit and a walk while throwing just 24 pitches. He then threw 40 pitches from the beginning of the third and into the fifth before exiting with a final line that included five earned runs on nine hits with two walks over four innings. In the third and fourth, Mlodzinski was charged with four runs on seven hits, including an RBI double by Kyle Manzardo, and a walk. He was also credited with an earned run in the fifth when he allowed a leadoff double to Jose Ramirez, who later scored on an error by Jared Triolo. 

"Just not good, honestly," Mlodzinski said. "Executed some pitches here and there, and I thought, in zone, the intention was good. Just didn't get the results I wanted."

Bo Naylor provided most of the damage against Mlodzinski, hitting this solo home run on a fastball right down the middle to lead off the third ...

... and adding this two-run double on a first-pitch slider located on the outer third an inning later: 

Over the course of four starts this season, Mlodzinski has still yet to allow a run over the first two innings. All of the damage is being done the second and third time through batting orders, as he's now surrendered 14 combined earned runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. The fourth is when he's ran into the most trouble, allowing six total runs. 

“I haven’t necessarily dove into exactly what are the results and what are the expected results the second and third time through the lineup but, to your point, just a quick glance, yes, second time I’m getting damaged," Mlodzinski said. "What does that mean? Right now, I don’t have a good answer. I’m going to have to dive in and kind of figure out what do I need to do with my stuff and what do I need to adjust to have success the second and third time through. It’s not necessarily like my stuff is going way down or my pitches and my shapes are going completely out the window the second or third time through. It’s more just recognizing what the game is telling me at this point and figuring out what do I need to do to make the adjustment.”

It's fair for one to think fatigue has come into play the deeper Mlodzinski has pitched into these games. He's looked like a prototypical reliever in delivering in the early innings of these outings before fading the more he's on the mound. That wasn't the case tonight, though, according to Mlodzinski. He said he felt strong, it was just a matter of the opposing hitters getting to pitches he felt he was executing. 

“I think everybody is going to fatigue through a game, both pitchers and position players," Mlodzinski said. "I think that can leak into how well you can command the ball and execute what you want. I didn’t feel fatigued through the game." 

As per usual, Mlodzinski leaned heavily on his fastball (21 times) and slider (18 times). Those two pitches weren't as effective on this night, though. He allowed a hit on a slider five times and gave up three hits in going to his fastball. He turned to his changeup, a pitch he'd only thrown 15 times entering the night, 12 times and generated some quality results with four whiffs and just one hit allowed. 

“All in all, that pitch did help me today," Mlodzinski said. "It’s kind of come along this year. It’s a new grip and something that’s hopefully going to help me throughout the year.”

Shelton said there hasn't been any discussions regarding a change in roles for Mlodzinski, who holds a 3.08 ERA -- 27 earned runs in 79 innings -- and has held opposing hitters to a .222 batting average in his career as a relief pitcher. In comparison, he's now allowed 15 earned runs in just 24 2/3 innings as a starter. 

At times, Mlodzinski has performed as one of the Pirates' most reliable relievers. He's clearly thrived when given the chance to come out of the bullpen. But now, he's clearly struggling to find his way in a starting role. 

I asked Shelton if there's anything that can be done, aside from allowing Mlodzinski to simply throw more innings, to expedite this adjustment period associated with pitching deeper into games. Like Mlodzinski, Shelton, too, is searching for answers. 

"I think that's something we got to look into, because we're seeing that trend start to happen three or four starts now," Shelton said. "That's probably going to be the topic of conversation that we're going to have over the next couple days."