Pirates 6, Dodgers 3: Haren consistently meh, bullpen consistently ugh

Dan Haren continued his streak of “bleh” or “meh” starts, lasting six innings and surrendering three runs on eight hits. Haren didn’t walk anybody, but struggled to miss bats, whiffing only two. Today was the ninth consecutive start that Haren has surrendered three runs or more, lasting anywhere from 5.2 innings to 7.1 innings during that stretch in which his ERA has risen from 0.75 to 3.28.

The Dodgers offense managed to fight back behind an Andre Ethier triple, two doubles from Yasiel Puig, and timely singles from Dee Gordon and Hanley Ramirez to eventually knot the game at three.

Then the bullpen happened.

While fans (#NotAllFans … wah wah wah) waste time speculating on whether Matt Kemp is the worst player in Dodger history or whether Yasiel Puig ruins the game or whether Clayton Kershaw just doesn’t know how to win, the bullpen continues to be a primary reason this team isn’t meeting expectations.

Brandon League came into a tied game and surrendered three runs on three hits and a walk, recording only two outs before being relieved by Paul Maholm, who followed by surrendering a hit and a walk.

After Don Mattingly got his confidence back in League by using him in low leverage situations, League has now pitched in high leverage situations in four games in a row. In those games, he has pitched two and a third innings, surrendering three runs on six hits and two walks.

Even before today’s meltdown, the pen had a -0.1 WAR (FIP) in total, good for 25th in the league. It’s a problem.

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-Yasiel Puig has now reached safely in 30 straight games.

Sometimes he’s the only reason to continue watching cause he’ll do stuff like this…

…or this.

–Dee Gordon stole his 31st and 32nd base, putting him on pace for 94 on the year.