Carmen Mlodzinski struggles, rough seventh dooms Pirates in loss to Guardians

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Apr 18, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PITTSBURGH — Well, the stretch of good pitching was bound to end sometime.

After four consecutive quality starts from Pirates starting pitchers, including seven-plus-inning shutouts from Bailey Falter and Andrew Heaney, right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski was tagged with five runs over four-plus innings in a 10-7 loss to the Guardians on Friday night at PNC Park. As has been the case for Mlodzinski in his transition to becoming a starting pitcher, he didn’t allow a run in his first two innings before being hit hard when he faced the Guardians for a second time.

Mlodzinski came out to pitch the fifth despite giving up seven hits in the third and fourth innings combined. He was pulled after Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez crushed a double down the right-field line. Ramirez advanced to third on a flyout and broke for home on a dribbler to third baseman Jared Triolo, scoring when Triolo couldn’t field it cleanly.

Former Pirate Luis Ortiz earned the win for Cleveland (10-9), pitching five innings, giving up four hits and striking out eight. He gave up a leadoff home run to center fielder Oneil Cruz, Cruz’s second consecutive leadoff homer and third home run in three days, and walked three batters, but settled down after catcher Joey Bart’s RBI single in the third. Ortiz retired the final eight batters he faced.

After Cleveland scored five runs in the seventh, the Pirates (8-13) attempted a frantic rally. Right fielder Bryan Reynolds hit a solo homer in the seventh inning, his third overall and second from the right side of the plate. An Andrew McCutchen infield single followed with a two-run blast from first baseman Enmanuel Valdez. That was his first homer as a Pirate. They tacked on two more in the ninth with four hits in five batters, forcing the Guardians to bring in closer Emmanuel Clase, but Reynolds was thrown out at third. Left fielder Jack Suwinski, representing the tying run, struck out to end the game.

It was the first time a Pirate starting pitcher failed to complete five innings since Sunday, Mlodzinski’s last start. It was the first time the Pirates bullpen gave up multiple runs since April 7, when the Cardinals scored three off Thomas Harrington, when Harrington completed a four-inning save.

It was over when …

The Guardians broke it open in the seventh inning, scoring five runs off reliever Kyle Nicolas. Nicolas loaded the bases on a single and two walks, then allowed consecutive two-RBI doubles to right fielder Jhonkensy Noel and shortstop Gabriel Arias. Second baseman Angel Martinez scored Arias with a sacrifice fly.

On the mound

In four-plus innings, Mlodzinski gave up nine hits and walked two batters. He did not strike anyone out.

Even though Cleveland didn’t score in the first two innings, Mlodzinski was hit hard from the start. The hardest hit ball of the night was a double play groundout in the first inning from center fielder Lane Thomas. The only change was that hits started finding holes.

At the plate

The Pirates had a hit off every Guardians reliever, including the two long balls off Tim Herrin and Jakob Junis, and four off Paul Sewald in the ninth. Reynolds finished 3 for 5 with a run and two RBIs.

Most valuable player

Catcher Bo Naylor entered the game hitting .162, but did the bulk of the damage off Mlodzinski. He led off the third inning with a long homer to center field, the first run Mlodzinski had given up the first time through a lineup, then hit a two-RBI double in the fourth that Cruz could not stop from rolling to the wall.

Naylor ended the game a triple away from the cycle. He finished 3 for 5 with a run and three RBIs.

Up next

Paul Skenes (2-1, 2.96 ERA) will start Saturday for Pittsburgh on his bobblehead night. He’ll face right-hander Ben Lively (0-2, 4.87), with first pitch at 4:05 p.m.