It’s probably been noted here once or twice that the Pirates’ 2017 bullpen was terrible apart from Felipe Rivero and Juan Nicasio. The numbers are pretty stark. Rivero and Nicasio totaled 3.3 fWAR. The rest of the relievers (I’m not including relief appearances by starters in any of this) totaled -1.1 fWAR. Combined, Rivero and Nicasio had an opponents’ slash line of 194/259/278. The other relievers: 266/341/447. Overall, the Pirates’ bullpen ranked 21st in the majors in fWAR, 19th in xFIP and 25th in K/9.
The Pirates’ inability to come up with decent relievers apart from Rivero and Nicasio really showed up in the seventh inning.