Pirates allow 17 hits, 3 homers to Rays, drop bullpen game

In three games earlier this month, good results followed when the Pittsburgh Pirates turned to their bullpen to cover a full nine innings of work.

The Pirates went with a bullpen game once again Friday night at PNC Park vs. the Tampa Bay Rays, but this time, it ended in a lopsided 10-3 defeat.

Luis Ortiz pitched the bulk of the game, tossing four innings and allowing six runs on 10 hits, including a pair of homers to Josh Lowe.

Then, in the ninth, with the game out of reach for the Pirates, Daulton Jefferies let up a three-run shot to Ben Rortvedt.

The homers sprinkled in with plenty of softer contact, as seven of Tampa Bay’s 17 hits had exit velocities of 80 mph or less, per Statcast.

“We still have to execute pitches,” said manager Derek Shelton. “We still had some hard-hit balls in there. There were some balls that got through but you’ve got to give the Rays credit. They put the ball in play.”

Carmen Mlodzinski started for the Pirates (36-39) on Friday and pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing the game’s first run in the second inning when Taylor Walls’ sacrifice fly plated Jose Siri, who singled.

Ortiz took over shortly thereafter and in a departure from his previous outings in June, through which he had an 0.73 ERA over 12 1/3 innings, was ineffective.

Lowe hit his first homer of the night off Ortiz in the third, putting Tampa Bay up 2-0.

Then, in the fourth, Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe hit back-to-back RBI singles to hand the Rays a 4-0 lead.

The Pirates did most of their damage offensively in the bottom of the fourth, scoring a pair and chasing Rays starter Ryan Pepiot from the game.

After Rowdy Tellez and Nick Gonzales drew walks, Ke’Bryan Hayes hit an RBI single, followed by Jack Suwinski, who collected an RBI double to make the score 4-2.

Yasmani Grandal then walked, with Colin Poche taking over on the hill with the bases loaded and one out.

To the plate came Andrew McCutchen, who ripped a hard-hit ball on the first pitch he saw from Poche.

Unfortunately, it was directly to Isaac Paredes at third base, who turned an easy 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Ortiz (3.45 ERA) pitched a scoreless fifth, but his outing came undone in the sixth, when Lowe cranked his second homer of the night off him, a three-run blast to left-center field.

“All my pitches felt good today,” Ortiz said through Pirates assistant coach and translator Stephen Morales. “I was executing my pitches, but (the Rays) just put the ball in play a lot tonight.”

Down 7-2 after Lowe’s sixth-inning homer, the Pirates failed to record any hits in the sixth and seventh.

Bryan Reynolds made it 7-3 in the eighth with a home run off Chris Devenski.

Reynolds’ solo shot went for his team-leading 11th of the year and extended his hitting streak to a career-high 18 games.

But it was the last run the Pirates managed.

Already with a comfortable lead in the ninth, the Rays piled it on when Rortvedt hit a three-run shot off Jefferies.

Jefferies, making his Pirates debut, pitched clean frames in the seventh and eighth, but with two outs in the top of the ninth gave up a single to Amed Rosario and a double to Siri, setting up Rortvedt’s blast, which cleared the Clemente Wall.

Mlodzinski (1-3, 4.50 ERA) was Friday’s losing pitcher.