PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Following the Pirates’ 7-2 loss to the Cubs on May 28th, Carmen Mlodzinski looked dejected as he stood by his locker. The one-sided game was certainly frustrating, but that wasn’t what he was upset about.
After finishing the month of May with a 3-1 record as a starter, Mlodzinski was informed by Pittsburgh Manager Don Kelly the day prior that Jared Jones — finally fully recovered from an elbow injury — would be replacing him in the rotation going forward. Unsurprisingly, Mlodzinski wasn’t too thrilled with that idea.
“I’m just still communicating with the organization and the people in my corner, whether that’s my family or my agency about what’s next. I really don’t have any comments after that,” Mlodzinski said when asked about the decision.
The switch stunned Mlodzinski so much that he moved onto the team’s unrestricted list days later. The move was largely because “he wasn’t physically or mentally ready to help the team win in his new role just yet,” per MLB.com.
In the weeks that followed, Mlodzinski was used rather unconventionally by Kelly out of the bullpen, throwing between two and four innings per game in a variety of situations. But after spending July settling into his new relief role, Mlodzinski was given another chance to slide into Pittsburgh’s rotation and prove himself as a viable starting arm Friday in the wake of Mitch Keller’s season-ending injury.
“I had an idea that I would be taking on at least a fair chunk of innings, three or four innings. They told me that three days ago or so in Milwaukee, and then seeing how that series turned out, they confirmed with me yesterday that I’d be taking the ball today,” Mlodzinski said.
But despite facing one of baseball’s bottomfeeders in the New York Mets, Mlodzinski failed to make much of a case for himself to be a consistent starter going forward. In his first start since late May, Mlodzinski struggled right off the hop and never found his footing in what ultimately turned into a 6-4 loss for the Bucs. Only lasting three innings before being yanked, Mlodzinski stepped off the mound with a rough final line of 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB and 1 K.
While the Mets entered the matchup with a lowly 25-41 record versus National League opponents, their batters looked right at home as soon as they stepped up to the dish. Three of the first four Mets Mlodzinski faced roped a hit off of him, which quickly helped New York jump ahead 1-0 before Pittsburgh had even gotten a chance to bat.
For a moment, Mlodzinski returned to his May form during the second inning. Using a combination of four-seamers, sinkers and sweepers among other pitches, Mlodzinski forced Brett Baty, Jorge Polanco and Luis Torrens into shoddy contact to send them down in order and keep the deficit at 1-0.
“Really not too much,” Mlodzinski said of the difficulty of suddenly switching back to starter from reliever. “In the role I was in previously, the management did a good job of making sure I wasn’t overthrowing in a sense.”
But after silencing the Mets’ bats in the second, they were loud as could be in the third.
Coming off a nearly 40-minute long rain delay, Mlodzinski endured one of his worst frames of the campaign. A.J. Ewing, Carson Benge and Jared Young each mashed singles past the Pirates’ right-hander before Marcus Semien cleared the bases with a three-run homer. Just like that, it was 5-0 New York.
“You’re more just trying to stay physically ready,” Mlodzinski said of dealing with the rain delay. “It’s obviously a long wait between innings, but their pitcher had to do it, and those guys had to go hit. Last time I checked, hitting in the big leagues is definitely harder than pitching. They still had to go out and play, so there’s no excuse.”
While Mlodzinski didn’t do enough to solidify his spot in the rotation from here on out, that may not really matter at the end of the day. The Pirates are more desperate than ever to stack up wins at this point in the season, meaning that almost anything is on the table when it comes to who starts on the mound.
Still, no matter what role Mlodzinski is placed in, he’s willing to do whatever he can to help his team make a push for the playoffs.
“I think it’s gonna be day-by-day,” Mlodzinski said regarding when his next start may be. “If I know something else, I’ll share it, but I think right now with the position we are in, we’re gonna try to win every ball game. If it takes being a little bit creative or doing things a little bit unconventional, I think everybody’s gonna support that to try and make a push here,” Mlodzinski said.
