Pirates Pitcher Bounces Back in Second Start
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PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski needed a strong bounce back and he got just that in his most recent start.
Mlodzinski took on the St. Louis Cardinals in the series opener on April 7 at PNC Park and led the way from the mound in the 8-4 victory.
He allowed just five hits, two walks and an earned run, while posting a career-high six strikeouts in five innings of work.
“Yeah I felt good," Mlodzinski said. "I think anytime your offense scores some runs early for you, you can confidently go after hitters, which I think me and [catcher] Joey [Bart] did a decent job of today and that kind of gave me the longest start of my career so far.”
Mlodzinski spent the past two seasons in the MLB coming out of the bullpen, with just four starts in 2024 and one start in 2023.
He earned a spot in the starting rotation after right-handed pitcher Jared Jones suffered a Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) sprain in his right elbow, which will keep him from pitching until at least early May.
Mlodzinski did a good job through the first three innings of his first start vs. the Tampa Bay Rays on March 31, but allowed five hits, four earned runs over two outs in the fourth inning before Pirates manager Derek Shelton took him out.
Following that start, Mlodzinski worked with the pitching staff and catching group on improving his velocity and on his sweeper, which proved important, as Cardinals hitters struggled with both, especially the second time through the lineup.
“The confidence came from the work in between this week," Mlodzinski said. "I did a lot of work with the breaking ball and just playing, a good way to put it would be the slow game. Just making sure I’m making hitters respect the sweeper that I throw. Thought we did a good job early in the outing of establishing that I was going to throw that and keeping them more on their heels in terms of the velocity standpoint, which I didn’t do last outing. That definitely helped me get through the second time for sure.”
Shelton praised Mlodzinski for his improvement his second time out and that his work on his breaking balls and incorporating his entire arsenal played a big role in the win.
“Execution of the breaking balls," Shelton said. "I think that’s where it came down to. The last time…the breaking ball wasn’t as good and because of it, he gave up some hits. It wasn’t hard contact hits, but he gave up hits and today I thought he did a good job of mixing, especially with the changeup."
Pirates catcher Joey Bart has faith in Mlodzinski and what he has and that he has confidence that he'll continue transtioning well from bullpen to starter.
“Yeah, he obviously has premium stuff," Bart said on Mlodzinski. "Settling in as a starter, how to make that transition. He’ll just keep getting better. Right now, I feel like he’s settling in a little bit, but it’s not where he can be, which is fine. He’s got a lot of really good stuff. Battling one inning vs. five to seven innings is a lot different. He knows how to do it. When they made that decision, I was really thrilled with it because I think he’s really talented and can be a really, really good starter.”
Pirates rookie pitcher in right-handed Thomas Harrington came in for Mlodzinski in the sixth inning and would go on to finish the game with a four-inning save, the first for the Pirates since 1998.
The duo, who combined for nine innings total, allowed a bullpen that pitched 14.1 innings vs. the New York Yankees in the last series, some much needed rest going forward.
“Yeah. I think it’s important," Mlodzinski said on rest for the bullpen. "Probably that’s more important on Harrington’s part because he ate four innings on the back half. To be able to get through five [innings] with one run is important, but one guy throwing the last four innings of a game is probably even more important for the bullpen. I think they’re going to be pretty excited to give the rest of the guys a day off.”
Mlodzinski hopes that this performance will help him going through the season and that he'll build upon it for his next outing.
“Yeah it definitely builds your confidence," Mlodzinski said. "This is something I’m going to look back on to and dive in to and say, what worked today, what didn’t work today, but ultimately, able to get a win for the team. So there’s things to build off of and there’s confidence to build off of for sure.”
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.