This weekend I talked a bit about the good and the bad that we’ve seen so far from the Pirates.
The best thing, in my opinion, is how they’ve been utilizing their bullpen. The Pirates have used Dillon Peters and Wil Crowe as effective, lights-out-so-far, multi-inning relievers, capable of stepping in and picking up the starting pitcher.
JT Brubaker yesterday went three innings, giving up two runs, one earned. He was replaced by Peters, who pitched 2.2 shutout innings, followed by Crowe, who pitched 1.1 additional shutout innings, all while holding a two run lead.
That got the Pirates to the eighth inning with a lead big enough to survive a Heath Hembree home run allowed, before Chris Stratton and David Bednar closed it out.