After a heartbreaking loss Friday and a galvanizing, shutout win on Saturday, the Pirates had forced a rubber match Sunday afternoon out west in San Diego.

If you turned the game off early, you likely missed the implosion that the Pirates suffered late in the game. Pittsburgh took a 4-1 lead into the sixth inning, but it was all downhill from there.

The Padres won by a final score of 6-4.

It was one of the few times that Don Kelly screwed up with his bullpen management. Starting lefty Andrew Heaney had a strong first five innings, holding San Diego to one run while the Pirates jumped out to a 4-1 lead.

But he ran into some trouble in the sixth. Heaney allowed a pair of doubles, allowing the Padres to climb back into this game. With two outs, Kelly made the decision to pull Heaney and called on Chase Shugart to finish the inning.

Shugart did just that, but oddly did not come back out for the seventh, despite being plenty fresh out of the bullpen. The righty had not pitched in a week, last recording four outs against the Milwaukee Brewers to close out a 6-5 loss. He is sporting a 3.47 ERA this season and had pitched nine clean outings out of 11 total appearances in May

Handedness also wasn’t a factor, as Kelly replaced him with Tanner Rainey, a fellow righty who last pitched Friday night. In that game, Rainey faced the minimum in the eighth and struck out a pair.

Rainey has had a rollercoaster few weeks with the Pirates. Some days he looks lights out. Others, he looks like he doesn’t belong in the major leagues.

It’s that kind of inconsistency that makes Rainey a difficult option to go to in a close game. He’s too prone to blow ups.

So, in a two-run game against a team like the Padres, a team who knows how to score, Rainey probably isn’t the best option. Considering the Pirates have an off day Monday as well, the team likely could have pushed some of their other arms into action to try and secure the win.

But Kelly shows his faith in Rainey and trots him out there. In his postgame conference, Kelly said that he liked Rainey’s slider against the part of San Diego’s lineup that started with Xander Bogaerts in the six-hole up through Fernando Tatis Jr in the one-spot, but that it just didn’t work.

Saying it didn’t work is quite the understatement.

Rainey walked two of his first three batters before pinch hitter (and former Pirate) Elias Diaz notches an RBI single to make it a 4-3 game. Kelly, saving his lefty Caleb Ferguson until fellow lefty Luis Arraez came to the plate, left Rainey in.

Rainey walked his third of the inning, loading the bases before Kelly came out to rescue him. Ferguson was far from sharp as well; he gave up two singles, a walk, and a sac fly, but all of those runs were charged to Rainey, who had to watch from the dugout.

It was a disastrous decision from Kelly. His options aren’t great, but that’s not an excuse. That decision alone cost his team the game.

Unlike their set up of Dennis Santana and David Bednar, who have formed a competent and interchangeable eighth inning/ninth inning lineup, the Pirates don’t have a clear seventh inning guy.

You know who would be a good seventh inning guy? Carmen Mlodzinski.

You know, the guy who was a solid major league reliever in both 2023 and 2024 before the Pirates decided to try and ruin that?

Mlodzinski made his major league debut midway through the 2023 season, and pitched 36 innings in his first season. He recorded a stellar 2.25 ERA, 1.278 WHIP, and earned ten holds.

The following year, his first full season in the bigs, Mlodzinski was similarly strong on the mound. In 50.2 innings, Mlodzinski posted a 3.38 ERA, 1.184 WHIP, and upped his strikeout-to-walk ratio to 2.42.

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating. The weirdest thing about the Mlodzinski experiment in 2025 is the fact that the Pirates decided years ago he wasn’t a good enough starter.

And we rarely say this about the current regime of the Pirates, but they were right!

In 2022 with Double-A Altoona, Mlodzinski had a subpar 4.78 ERA and 1.415 WHIP, and was struggling to establish himself with the Curve. Pittsburgh’s front office stepped in, and believed that his best path to major league success was converting him to a reliever. They believed that his arsenal and talent would better play coming out of the bullpen, and they were correct.

His first season in this new role, 2023, saw him succeed in Triple-A and earn a major league call-up in a matter of months.

Going back on this decision now, after Mlodzinski pitched well in the major leagues, never made sense.

Mlodzinski started nine games for the Pirates this season, and was lit up. He put up a 5.67 ERA and 1.613 WHIP in 39.2 innings for the Pirates. His biggest challenge was facing the order for a second time, further proving this regime’s original theory that Mlodzinski best pitched as a reliever or opener.

There wasn’t a more perfect scenario for Mlodzinski than Sunday in the seventh.

He can help keep the Padres at bay, and get the game to the eighth inning. From there, a lefty like Ferguson or maybe Joey Wentz can pick up the eighth, face Arraez, and then onto Santana for the ninth.

On May 21st, the team optioned him to Triple-A, exchanging him with righty prospect Mike Burrows. Mlodzinski has made two starts in Indianapolis, where he has totaled 10.2 innings, 15 strikeouts, five walks, and no runs allowed. He’s too good to be a Triple-A pitcher.

Whether Mlodzinski wants to be a starter, or the Pirates are trying to will it into existence, both sides have to be realistic. Putting him in the rotation isn’t what’s best for him or team.

Mlodzinski needs to be up here in the bullpen. Now.

The easiest option is to DFA the aforementioned Rainey, whose ERA has now ballooned to 10.57 in 7.2 innings. It was worth a try, but he’s simply too inconsistent for the Pirates to trust in any close situation.

But if the Pirates wanted to try and galaxy brain it and not risk losing their unprotected pitching depth, they could also option either Burrows or Braxton Ashcraft.

Burrows has struggled so far, giving up eight earned runs in 8.1 innings. I still like his chances of being a major league arm, but perhaps a few more Triple-A starts would do him some good.

Ashcraft has been good, pitching four scoreless frames. But his role here is pretty undefined. Ashcraft has come out of the bullpen in both games, tossing three innings back on the 26th, and one inning on Sunday.

Is he a long reliever? Is he a leverage guy? Is he a major league starter anytime soon? It’s unknown as of yet.

But one thing is for sure: Mlodzinski needs to be up here. The Pirates could have really used him in this series.