Pirates' Carmen Mlodzinski Gets Brutally Honest About Poor Starts
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PITTSBURGH — Carmen Mlodzinski did not have the road trip he wanted at all, struggling in both of his starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Mlodzinski gave up five earned runs over 4.1 innings in the 5-1 loss to the Texas Rangers in the series opener at Globe Life Field on April 21 and then allowed four earned runs over 3.2 innings in the 5-0 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers in the series finale at American Family Field on April 26.
It's a 10.13 ERA over those two starts and even harder for Mlodzinski was that he pitched well vs. the Brewers to start out, but gave up those runs in the fourth inning, as he couldn't get that last out.
Mlodzinski took the defeat hard postgame, was frustrated with himself and accepted responsibility for the defeat.
"Lost us the game," Mlodzinski said. "So, I think it was one of those days where I come in and I felt really good for the first three innings and then just spiraled, honestly.
"Gave absolutely everything I had to try to get out of that inning and just didn't, I mean I think there was some really well struck balls in that inning, but there was also some weaker contact. Just spiraled on me. Want to sit here and say, 'It's never gonna happen again,' but it's probably going to happen again,' so just disappointed in myself. I put in a lot of work and it didn't work out today. It cost me, cost the team the game. I'd say just disappointed in myself, honestly."
Mlodzinski Continues Issues Later In Games
Where Mlodzinski struggled over these past few starts was facing the lineup the second time and third time through the order.
He gave up two hits that scored three runs in the fifth inning vs. the Rangers, third time through the order, and then five hits and five runs in the fourth inning vs. the Brewers, second time through the order.
It's something that Mlodzinski had issues with last season, when the Pirates gave him the chance as a starting pitcher,
Mlodzinski ended up with a 1-4 record and 5.67 ERA over nine starts, which saw the Pirates send him down to Triple-A Indianapolis, before calling him back up and placing him in the bullpen, where he thrived once again with a 2.15 ERA.
He said post game that he's not worried about which time he faces the lineup again, but that he needs to show everyone that he can excel deeper into games and shut those doubts down.
“Not really. Not really thinking about, ‘I’ve struggled before, so this is gonna happen again.’ Honestly, I don’t think anybody in the big leagues should ever think about past failures and expecting them to happen again in a game," Mlodzinski said.
“I mean, you’re aware of it. I’ll be honest, I’m sick of answering those questions. I’ve got to figure out something to not have to answer that question again. What does that look like? I think it’s gonna be a mix of stuff. Maybe a new pitch, a different execution. But yeah, I’m over answering that. I expect you guys to keep [asking] it until I fix it, honestly. So it’s not a knock on the question. It’s a knock on me, for sure.”
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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.