PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – There’s no arguing that the Pittsburgh Pirates possess one of the best offenses in Major League Baseball. The numbers speak for themselves. However, their bullpen has been quite a different story in 2026.
As much as the Pirates’ bats have impressed, their bullpen has been a constant area of concern since the season began. That trend showed itself again in Houston on Wednesday night.
Just as they had in Game 1 of the series, the Pirates fell behind by two runs early in the contest and struck back to take the lead. This time, it was nine-hole hitter Henry Davis who gave Pittsburgh a much-needed spark with his first-ever grand slam to put the Bucs ahead. Houston made it 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth via an RBI single, but the Pirates' scintillating bats caught fire again and plated five runs over the next three frames to build a 9-5 advantage heading into the bottom of the eighth.
While Pittsburgh’s offense put together runs, the Astros slowly chipped away at the Bucs’ arms. Making his 13th start of the campaign, Paul Skenes took on 4.2 innings of work and finished with a final line of 7 H, 3 ER, 1B, and 7 SO, a far cry from his usual dominance. Due to defensive blunders around him, Skenes was pushed to a whopping 109 pitches, a new career high for the Bucs’ ace.
“I thought he threw the ball fairly well. Maybe defensively there were some plays that we need to make that cost him some pitches and got the pitch count up, but he still had good stuff there at the end,” Kelly said regarding Skenes’ outing.
From there, Kelly turned to Yohan Ramírez to get the Pirates out of the bottom of the fifth inning. The right-hander did just that, but slipped up shortly after when he allowed a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to Isaac Paredes.
“I thought (Ramirez) did a really nice job tonight coming into that situation and getting that third out and then getting us two innings out of the pen. There’s gonna be opportunity like we talked about and guys are gonna have the opportunity to step up and play roles,” Kelly said.
Following the Parades blast, the dam finally broke for Pittsburgh’s bullpen an inning later. In one of the Pirates’ worst stretches of the season, Houston plated six runs against relievers Mason Montgomery and Gregory Soto to completely flip the game on its head. Now suddenly trailing 11-9 with three outs to work with, all Pittsburgh could muster in the top of the ninth was a Jared Triolo walk as the Astros held on for the comeback victory.
The Astros had been 0-32 this year in games they trailed after seven innings before Wednesday.
“Anytime you lose a game like that, it’s frustrating. Looking at (Montgomery) and Soto, both of them have been so good for us this year and that one just got away. We just have to find a way to bounce back tomorrow,” Kelly said.
While Kelly was quick to back his bullpen pitchers despite the blown lead, Skenes was a bit more blunt in his assessment of the loss.
“We can’t lose this one today. It stings a little bit. Putting up nine runs, you should win that game every time. It doesn’t feel good for me. I know it doesn’t feel good for the other pitchers who threw today. There are times when we will pick up the offense, and there are times where we won’t. Tonight was one of those nights,” Skenes said.
Whether it involves some soul-searching internally or looking externally for a new piece to add, something needs to be done if Pittsburgh wants to turn its bullpen struggles around. Wednesday’s collapse proved it.
