PITTSBURGH — The Pirates lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-4, on Saturday night, and it was one of the more reliable parts of the team that contributed to the loss, with the back end of the bullpen wearing four runs in the eighth inning after Andrew McCutchen had tied the game with a solo home run in the seventh.
It started with Neftali Feliz, who allowed a single, a fielder’s choice and another single before coming out of the game with right arm discomfort. Clint Hurdle said he came into the game at full health, but he was unsure if the injury affected Feliz’s performance against the three batters he faced.
“I got no indication other than he had some pain and some discomfort,” Hurdle said. “We’ll know more [Sunday].”
He then turned to a cold Felipe Rivero, who promptly gave up a walk and a pair of RBI singles that scored three runs. Hurdle didn’t think that Rivero coming in cold had anything to do with the results.
“Guys in the bullpen know that they can be called up,” he said. “You’d have to ask him. I’m speculating. He’s been a guy that’s pitched in that situation — inherited runners — and hadn’t let one score until tonight.”
Rivero was not available for comment after the game.
Injuries, of course, happen. They are a part of baseball. The Pirates go to great lengths to prevent overuse of their bullpen arms. On Monday, they left Jeff Locke in for 75 pitches with Antonio Bastardo and Juan Nicasio in the bullpen because they decided that they needed a rest.
At that point, Bastardo had pitched 2.1 innings in three appearances and thrown 32 pitches in a four-day span. He also got up at least one other time. Nicasio had thrown 48 pitches over three innings Saturday night in Milwaukee.
Obviously, there are different standards for each pitcher. Nicasio as a former starter, in particular, probably needs more days off than most. But at the same time, what about the usage of the back end of the bullpen?
Rivero threw 53 pitches in 3.2 innings over the same span before coming back to pitch an inning Friday and then again Saturday. He’s now thrown 96 pitches over 5.2 innings in his last nine days. All told, Rivero has thrown 66 innings in 2016, a 20 percent increase over 2015, and he’s closing in on his career high as a reliever — 77.1 innings — which he set in 2014.
Was his sub par performance on Saturday due to coming into the game cold? Was it due to overall fatigue? That remains speculation. But the Pirates are clearly using Rivero more than they’d like to.
The same goes for Feliz. In his four games in five days on the recent road trip, he threw 82 pitches. That’s more than most of the Pirates starting pitchers throw. Again, is his injury due to overuse? Impossible to say.
The reason the Pirates bullpen has been overworked is two-fold. One, they aren’t winning many blowouts where they can use the mop-up side of the ‘pen to get through to the end of the games. The other is that they aren’t getting many innings out of their starting pitchers.
Over the last ten days (nine games), just once has a Pirates starter pitched into the seventh inning when Chad Kuhl went 6.1 against the Brewers on Aug. 25. Since then, the Pirates are averaging just a hair over five innings per start and twice had the starting pitcher fail to reach the fifth frame.
It hasn’t all been because of unreliable pitchers, either. Jameson Taillon was pulled after just 76 pitches Friday night. Ivan Nova was pinch-hit for after 70 pitches Saturday night.
Even with rosters expanding, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of help coming for the ‘pen. Kelvin Marte made his MLB debut Saturday by pitching 1/3 of an inning and cleaning up Feliz and Rivero’s mess. But he doesn’t seem like a very viable option with a sub-90 MPH fastball. A.J. Schugel should help some and Drew Hutchison may be an option down the road, but the Pirates don’t have many reliable bullpen arms and the crunch will be exacerbated if Feliz misses time.
If the Pirates want to avoid more bullpen injuries and blowups, the easiest way to do it will be to get more out of their starting pitching.
