Thinned-out 'pen lets game get out of hand

MILWAUKEE -- Right-hander Rookie Davis started the series opener at Miller Park because the Pirates decided to remove Nick Kingham from the rotation and bump him to the bullpen. Kingham found himself on the mound in the fifth inning, then again in the sixth and the seventh, because Davis’ start lasted only three innings.

The Pirates shuffled their personnel in an effort to patch up the back of their rotation, but performance remains an issue. Davis allowed three runs in his first start, reliever Clay Holmes gave up a run in the fourth and Kingham surrendered six more in the Bucs’ 10-4 loss to the Brewers on Friday night.

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Pittsburgh’s pitching depth has been exposed since injuries began ravaging the rotation and bullpen. Without Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams, Steven Brault and Kingham were thrust into the rotation. Without Keone Kela, Francisco Liriano moved to a more prominent role in the bullpen. With Nick Burdi injured and Richard Rodriguez struggling, the Pirates had to dip further into their Triple-A ranks.

Sixty-two games into the season, the Pirates bullpen owns a 5.32 ERA, better than only the Nationals and Orioles.

“The weakest part of any team is your middle relief, and we’ve struggled there,” general manager Neal Huntington said Sunday on his KDKA-FM radio show. “I haven’t done a good job of getting the right guys at the right time in the right spots, and it’s hurt us, there’s no doubt about it.”

No team is stashing an ace in its middle relief corps, of course, but the Pirates’ beleaguered bullpen has too often turned narrow deficits into blowouts. And it has been forced to pitch more than most, which is collateral damage when the Pirates’ rotation replacements don’t work deep into games.

That wasn’t the case the past two days, when Joe Musgrove and Chris Archer put together the kind of strong starts Pittsburgh needs from them. There is bound to be increased pressure on the front office to call up top prospect Mitch Keller, who struck out a career-high 13 batters and allowed only one hit on Friday night … for Triple-A Indianapolis.

Meanwhile, a familiar script played out on Friday night for the big league club.

Coming out of the bullpen to make his first Major League start since Sept. 20, 2017, Davis worked around a Christian Yelich double in a scoreless first inning. He gave up a leadoff double to Yasmani Grandal in the second, which was followed by Eric Thames’ two-run homer to right. Milwaukee then loaded the bases, but Davis avoided serious damage by permitting only one more run on Yelich’s sacrifice fly.

The Pirates pulled within a run in the third, and Davis kept the Brewers off the board in his final inning. But the right-hander ran up his pitch count by walking the bases loaded before retiring opposing starter Brandon Woodruff.

“I have to do a better job of getting quicker outs and not leaning on the bullpen so much,” Davis said. “Going three innings today is inexcusable.”

While Davis heaped the blame on only himself, the Pirates were still in the game when he was taken out. The Bucs’ coaching staff planned to have Davis work his way through the lineup twice, and he did exactly that. But it took Davis 76 pitches to record nine outs, which left most of the game in the bullpen’s hands.

“The game was still in a competitive state,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “The walks were challenging. The three-ball counts added up. We were holding serve for a while, then it got away from us in the middle.”

Hurdle then called on Holmes in the fourth. Yelich singled, stole second and scored on a base hit by Mike Moustakas to again extend Milwaukee’s lead to two runs. The Pirates' lineup kept fighting, however, even as Woodruff tied a career high with 10 strikeouts in six innings.

“I was ready to get back out there and face these guys again,” said Woodruff, who allowed six runs in four innings last Saturday at PNC Park. “Went back and watched film from last game, and I just wasn’t executing well enough.”

Shortstop Kevin Newman led off the sixth with his second career home run, a line-drive shot to left-center field. Once again, the Pirates were within a run of the Brewers.

Back to the mound came Kingham, who began his night with a 10-pitch inning in the fifth. With two on and one out, Ryan Braun drilled a low, full-count fastball to straightaway center for a three-run homer that put Milwaukee comfortably ahead, 7-3.

Third baseman Colin Moran let a pop-up drop in the seventh, then Kingham allowed two more hits before leaving the game. Lorenzo Cain then hit a single off rookie Geoff Hartlieb, driving in both inherited runners.

What was the difference between Kingham’s first inning and the next two?

“I couldn’t tell you,” Kingham said. “I feel like I attacked the hitters the next couple innings the same, mixed my pitches, made some good pitches. They’re just hitting the ball really well.”

Over his past seven outings, Kingham has allowed 45 hits and 13 walks while posting an 11.84 ERA and 2.38 WHIP in 24 1/3 innings. Overall this season, Kingham -- who is out of Minor League options -- owns a 9.61 ERA in 14 appearances.

“The execution of pitches, a lot of balls are ending up in the middle. It’s with all the pitches,” Hurdle said. “That’s been problematic, and it’s been problematic basically throughout the start of the season until now.”