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Carmen Mlodzinski pitches out of the bullpen for the Pittsburgh Pirates now, and it's something he's not happy about.
When he spoke to reporters after his demotion from the starting rotation, he expressed displeasure and even mentioned he was going to be speaking to his agent to figure out his next steps.
It bugged at least some of the Pittsburgh fanbase that Mlodzinski didn't seem ready to accept the role that was asked of him.
To be fair, it's his livelihood, and he has a right to be frustrated. He may not have expressed things in the best way in his public comments, though.
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Regardless, there was quite a bit of irony for Mlodzinski on Monday night.
That's because, in his outing out of the bullpen, he managed to allow five unearned runs.
That's not something that happens every day, with this stat summing up the rarity:
Carmen Mlodzinski is the first Pirates pitcher to allow at least 5 *unearned* runs in an outing since Mitch Keller on Aug. 24, 2022. He's the first Pirates pitcher to do so *in relief* since Kelvin Marte on Sept. 4, 2016.
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There is no suggestion that any kind of error-making was done on purpose in the field behind Mlodzinski. That's not how teammates would actually approach such a situation in actual MLB games.
But there is some little jab from the universe here in which the baseball gods somehow added just a bit more frustration for the pitcher who was already annoyed about his demotion.
Mlodzinski was generally having a solid season before getting squeezed out of the rotation due mostly to a numbers crunch, but he'll have to find a groove again in the bullpen to ensure that when there's another chance to be given to him, he can take it.
In the meantime, he'll hope for a few less mishaps when he's on the mound.
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