Pirates' David Bednar: Falls apart in third blown save

Bednar (1-1) was charged with the loss and blown save Tuesday after he retired just one of the seven batters he faced during a 5-3 loss to the Tigers. He allowed four runs on three hits and a walk.

The right-hander also plunked a pair of batters as he threw just nine of 23 pitches for strikes. It's an exclamation point on a worrying start to the season for Bednar, who is 1-for-4 in save chances and has already surrendered six earned runs after giving up exactly 15 in each of the previous three seasons. Manager Derek Shelton admitted that Bednar's lack of spring reps due to a lat injury has likely played a role in the struggles, per Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but there's been no indication at this point that a change at closer is coming.