Pirates hope trip to Indy will help Bednar

For Derek Shelton, the decision to demote David Bednar to Triple-A Indianapolis was difficult, so the Pittsburgh Pirates manager knew that informing the two-time All-Star closer would be uncomfortable.

Shelton expected Bednar to be emotional, given that he’s a 30-year-old veteran with four-plus years of major league service time and a Mars alum who has become a hometown hero. The Pirates have $5.9 million invested into Bednar to be their closer this season and can’t afford for his struggles in high-leverage situations to continue, even if it requires them to use a closer-by-committee until Bednar is ready to return.

“I think the biggest component of the conversation I had with David was, ‘Hey man, I understand you’re going to be mad. I get it. You’ve been in the big leagues and had success, but we need to get you right. Take the time you’re going to take to be mad, but once you get (to Indianapolis), you need to lock it in and work,’” Shelton said. “No player ever sent down is happy about it. There should be some time of like, ‘All right, I’m going to be a little angry.’ But once you get to the affiliate, now we need to go.”

Shelton said he was “very pleased” when he received reports about Bednar’s first outing in the minors. The 6-foot-1, 250-pound righthander pitched a perfect fifth inning Sunday in a 4-1 loss to the Iowa Cubs, recording a strikeout while throwing 12 of 18 pitches for strikes.

It was a positive first step for Bednar. He was optioned April 1, two days after his wild pitch allowed the winning run to score in a 3-2 loss to the Miami Marlins. It was the second loss of the season for Bednar, who gave up the game-winning hit in a 5-4 loss at Miami on Opening Day.

It wasn’t a snap decision for the Pirates, even if it appeared to be a panic move. After leading the majors with a 92.9 save percentage and tying for the National League lead with 39 saves in 2023, Bednar had seven blown saves in 30 opportunities and lost his closer role late last year. He was inconsistent in Grapefruit League play before a strong finish to spring training, only to get off to a poor start.

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said Sunday on his weekly radio show on 93.7 The Fan that sending Bednar to the minors was a “very difficult decision, a very difficult conversation and not one he liked in the moment,” but added that the club still believes “he can be a high-leverage reliever at the back of the bullpen, at the end of the game.”

It didn’t help that Bednar had some poor play behind him in his three appearances. In the opener, Oneil Cruz misplayed a fly ball to right-center that resulted in a triple that put the winning run in scoring position. Despite giving up a two-run homer to Otto Lopez in the ninth the next day, Bednar bounced back to get the final three outs and earn his first save since Aug. 23. In his final appearance, Bednar gave up a leadoff single to Derek Hill, who stole second base and reached third on a throwing error by catcher Endy Rodriguez and scored on the wild pitch.

The Pirates want to get Bednar back to being a dominant closer.

“It’s extremely challenging,” Shelton said. “I think one of the things about it is, you have to be blatantly honest. We need David Bednar to be good for our bullpen to be good. We got to get him right. We got to make sure he is using all of his pitches and it’s good and it’s solid. I think what we were seeing wasn’t consistent enough. For us to have a good bullpen, he needs to be a part of it. So we need to get him right.”

Bednar maintained the velocity on his four-seam fastball, but Shelton said the Pirates were concerned with his pitch usage, location and consistency of his delivery. The three go hand in hand, especially when the mechanics of the delivery leads to better location and allows for Bednar to use his curveball and splitter as complementary pitches.

“I think when we’ve seen him at his best, all three have worked in combination of each other,” Shelton said. “It’s not just exclusively the fastball. We know the fastball plays in certain areas, but it’s kind of the chicken and the egg: Does it play in those areas because the curveball works off a different tunnel or the split plays a different way? I think it’s why it’s important that all three are working in unison.”

Bednar showed some of that sequencing for Indianapolis on Sunday. He struck out the first batter he faced, Jonathan Long, setting it up with two curveballs outside followed by two four-seamers, the first outside and the second above the strike zone. Then he returned to his curveball inside, getting a foul ball, and a four-seamer at the top of the zone before getting him swinging at a 2-2 splitter inside and at the knees.

Bednar changed the combination against Dixon Machado, staying north-south with a curveball-fastball-splitter- fastball-curveball sequence that generated a groundout to third. The third batter, former Pirates catcher Reese McGuire, saw Bednar start below the zone with a curveball-fastball-curveball- splitter combo before throwing a 97-mph fastball down the middle that was fouled off and another just above the strike zone that got a fly out to left field.

Shelton called the initial reports from Indianapolis “very positive.”

“Fastball was good, split was good, threw strikes,” Shelton said. “Everything was very positive. Everything was fine.”