The Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen blew four leads over the season’s first four games, costing the team three early wins. But after turning a three-run, seventh-inning lead into an extra-innings loss Wednesday, the Pirates group of relievers is beginning to show it is the team strength it was expected to be.

Since that disheartening Wednesday loss to the St. Louis Cardinals that dropped the Pirates to 1-3, the bullpen has had a stellar 10-inning run during an ensuing three-game winning streak.

While a Joey Votto home run off Keone Kela in a win Saturday is a blemish, that is one of only four hits Pirates relievers have allowed in 10 innings over the first three games of a series against the Cincinnati Reds (all wins). In those 10 innings, the bullpen has allowed one run and one walk and has 13 strikeouts.

It’s the type of run that was expected out of a bullpen that was predicted to be one of the majors’ best.

“Based on what we saw last year, absolutely,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “And even when we go through the turbulence – that’s the outlier for me. It’s not when they pitch well.

“I believe in our bullpen, we have a lot of confidence in our bullpen, those guys have a lot of confidence in one another.”

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