They weren't perfect but Carmen Mlodzinski and Thomas Harrington provided the Pirates' bullpen with an opportunity to hit the 'reset' button in an 8-4 series-opening win over the Cardinals at PNC Park.

Mlodzinksi made his second start of the season and worked through five innings of five-hit ball while allowing just one run, walking two and striking out six. He threw a career-high 92 pitches, 54 of which were strikes, and utilized five pitches to draw 35 swings and eight whiffs.

In just his second major-league appearance, Harrington worked the final four innings of the Pirates' first National League Central win of the year and struck out five but allowed three earned runs on two home runs. He also became just the fifth Pirates' pitcher to go at least four innings when earning his first major-league save since they became an official stat in 1969, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

"Our bullpen has been rode pretty hard and we had a couple short starts," Derek Shelton said. "The ability to let two guys go out and finish the game, that's really important for us. Today we had a lot of our backend leverage guys who were down because of their volume. The fact that we were able to do that is a really nice reset."

"They are freaking pumped," Harrington would add about the bullpen. "But, they've needed a break, they've been really grinding for us, so it was nice to give them a little break."

Both Mlodzinski and Harrington made their first major-league starts against the Rays last week in Tampa, Fla. and made proper adjustments for their second appearances of the season. 

For Mlodzinski -- the reliever turned starter -- the execution of his sweeper was crucial on this night as he worked into the fourth and fifth inning to face the Cardinals lineup for a second time, something he didn't do against the Rays. During his first start, Mlodzinski started to lose command of his secondary pitches which decreased his efficiency and eventually forced him from the game. On this night, he was able to locate his pitches the second time through the order to stay on track.

The 26-year-old right-hander utilized his fastball 35% of the time, but he drew 15 swings and three whiffs with his slider and another three swings with his sweeper. He built confidence in the latter since his last outing and said that pitch specifically allowed him to keep hitters on their heels.

"I did a lot of work with the breaking ball and just playing -- I guess a good way to put it would be the slow game, just making sure I'm making hitters respect the sweeper that I throw," Mlodzinski said. "We did a good job early in the outing of establishing that I was going to throw that and keeping them more on their heels in terms of the velocity standpoint, which I didn't do last outing. That definitely helped me get through the second time, for sure."

Mlodzinski never threw more than 20 pitches in the first four innings. However, his pitch count climbed in the fifth inning as hitters started to battle and the Cardinals pushed their first run across. Three different at bats lasted five pitches or longer with two lasting seven or longer.

"This is something I'm going to look back onto and dive into and say, 'What worked today? What didn't work today?' But ultimately, able to get a win for the team," Mlodzinski said. "So there's things to build off of and there's confidence to build on, for sure."

Harrington's first start of the season, and his major-league debut, early last week followed up Mlodzinski's. But, rather than use him as a starter on this occasion, Harrington came in out of the bullpen and threw 60 pitches, 38 of which were strikes.

He utilized four different pitches and mixed his fastball, sweeper and splitter fairly consistently as he set down five of the first six hitters he faced. The Cardinals' lone hit on Harrington during his first two innings was a solo home run from Yohel Pozo on a 2-0 splitter up in the zone.

"I think the first game, there were a lot of nerves and emotions and pitching in that," Harrington said. "This game, I felt much more comfortable. I think that was a big step for me, especially attacking guys and getting ahead early."

Finishing a game is also different than starting one and Harrington said that might be just the second time he's ever recorded the final out of a game. He's never done it as a professional as he's only pitched into the eighth inning three times since joining the Pirates' organization and one of those was in a relief appearance. 

But, it was impressive nonetheless as he scattered the two home runs he gave up and didn't allow the Cardinals to do any extensive damage.

"The other thing that shouldn't go unnoticed is standing on the mound at the end of a Major League Baseball game, there's something to be said about that," Shelton said. "Going out and being able to finish that in the ninth inning, I would bet in his professional career he's never stood on the mound in the eighth or ninth inning even though he didn't start that, he had to finish it. That's really important and he stayed composed, which I thought was impressive."