The Pittsburgh Pirates are teetering on the edge of a complete spiral.
Following a sweep on the road in Atlanta and dropping two of three while hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Pirates opened Bucco Luau weekend with an 8-3 loss at the hands of the Miami Marlins.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but it was the bullpen that provided the woes in yet another loss for the Pirates. At this point, every media outlet and writer in this city probably feels like one collective broken record.
In their latest loss, starter Braxton Ashcraft was able to hold the Marlins to two runs and left the game in a tie. But the righty was a little less efficient than usual, and after five innings his pitch count sat at 90.
With the Pirates keeping a close eye on Ashcraft’s innings, perhaps deploying a bulk reliever to piggyback off him was always in the cards for manager Don Kelly. But for the sixth inning, he called upon right-hander Wilber Dotel to take over for Ashcraft.
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