Bednar blows save, but Bucs lose no confidence in closer

PITTSBURGH -- Amidst the ups and downs of this season, no Pirate has been more consistent than David Bednar. He’s a two-time All-Star who’s been one of the best closers in all of baseball. There’s a good chance he earns the Trevor Hoffman Award, an honor given to the National League’s best reliever. For his accolades, he finds himself in a funk.

Bednar has blown two saves in the last four days. In his most recent, he allowed a season-high three runs that resulted in the Pirates losing to the Braves, 8-6, on Tuesday at PNC Park. Prior to this month, Bednar had only blown one save all season. Given his resumé, Bednar’s teammates harbor no concerns.

"There's no doubt in our minds that he's going to be fine,” said Mitch Keller. “[He’s a] two-time All-Star. He’s got [a 2.08] ERA. He’s nails. He’s always been great. There's no doubt in any of our minds in here that when the ninth inning comes around and he gets the ball, that he's going to seal the deal. So yeah, [if] he's back out there tomorrow, I have 100% confidence that he's going to get it done.”

“David is a savage. He’s going to shake it off, for sure,” said outfielder Josh Palacios. “This is baseball. It goes up, it goes down. Nobody has a zero ERA in the league -- things happen. He’s an All-Star. He’s the best closer in the game in my opinion. He’s going to bounce back from this with ease.”

Bednar entered the top of the ninth inning tasked with protecting a one-run lead. He began the inning by getting Austin Riley to harmlessly fly out to right field, but trouble began to brew after he walked Matt Olson, putting the tying runner on base with one out.

Travis d’Arnaud followed Olson’s walk with a double, putting runners at second and third with one out. The Pirates caught a break when Olson broke for home when Marcell Ozuna’s ground ball was hit right to Ke’Bryan Hayes. Catcher Jason Delay tagged out Olson in a rundown, but Nicky Lopez, pinch-running for d’Arnaud, advanced to third base, putting runners at the corners with two outs. As they’ve done all season, the Braves -- baseball’s best offense -- capitalized on the opportunity.

Kevin Pillar pulled a first-pitch fastball into left field, allowing Lopez to score from third. Orlando Arcia followed by reaching out and pulling a 2-2 curveball down the left-field line. Ozuna scored, and with the help of a bounce off the side wall, Pillar easily scored from first, sliding head-first into home plate for style. In a span of two batters, a one-run lead became a two-run deficit.

“That’s just baseball, but honestly, the most frustrating part is the guys played well enough to win and couldn’t get it done,” Bednar said. “Especially with two outs, it’s unacceptable and very frustrating.”

Bednar has pitched a bit more frequently than normal in recent days. He’s already appeared five times this month, including four times in the past five days. That said, neither Bednar or manager Derek Shelton attributed fatigue as a reason for the blown save. When asked how he shakes off this rough stretch, Bednar emphasized having a short memory.

“Same for the good and the bad,” Bednar said. “That’s the good thing about being a reliever. You’re in there the next day or two, and it doesn’t matter what I did today. Just help the team win tomorrow.”

The ninth inning served as a bitter end to a game in which the Pirates had otherwise outplayed the best team in baseball. The Bucs conjured up plenty of highlights in the early frames, namely their four home runs hit by Hayes, Alfonso Rivas, Palacios and Bryan Reynolds -- of whom the latter two went back to back. No single play, however, topped Palacios’ latest acrobatic grab.

With two outs in the fourth inning, Palacios tracked Austin Riley’s fly ball down the right-field line, collided with the short wall, flipped onto the concrete and held on to make one of the Pirates’ most impressive catches of the season. The following inning, Palacios sat on Yonny Chirinos’ well-placed splitter and golfed the pitch just over the Clemente Wall for his fourth home run of the season, one of the four home runs that the Pirates slugged.

Palacios, though, would have rather had the dub.

“I’d dump the home run and the catch for the win, definitely,” Palacios said.