CLEVELAND _ It surely would've made for a positive story, the continuing of a recent trend with their starting pitching, not to mention an obscure outing from Mitch Keller. But the Pirates winning their season-high fourth in a row was not to be.
Instead, they'll have to settle for getting one step closer to the No. 1 overall pick in 2021.
After the Pirates had allowed just one hit entering the ninth, Chris Stratton couldn't close it out, and they lost the Cleveland Indians, 4-3, on Friday at Progressive Field.
The good news for the Pirates is that, finally, they encountered a good time to blow a late lead, not that anyone was overly excited about dropping to 18-40 on the season.
Stratton started off the inning by walking right fielder Tyler Naquin. Former Pirate Jordan Luplow cut the Pirates' lead to 3-2 with a double off the wall, scoring Naquin. Two batters later, center fielder Delino DeShields singled to center field, tying the game at 3.
Second baseman Cesar Hernandez ended it when he smoked a line drive down the right-field line.
The rally was relatively unexpected considering the Indians had only a bunt base hit until that point. But if one thing served as a consistent link throughout this game, it was to expect the unexpected.
That started with Keller, who didn't allow a hit over five innings but also walked eight, at various points struggling mightily with his command.
Even after Keller left, it looked like the Pirates might have a shot at something special, as Nik Turley worked an easy sixth. But in the seventh, after Sam Howard walked Indians catcher Sandy Leon, DeShields put down a perfect bunt _ right side, no-man's land, easy base hit.
The outing from Keller dusted off all sorts of superlatives and goofy stats, including:
_ He became the first National League pitcher with back-to-back no-hit outings of five or more innings since Johnny Vander Meer had consecutive no-hitters on June 11-15, 1938. Keller hasn't allowed a hit in his past 11 innings.
_ The eight walks were the most for an MLB starting pitcher this season.
_ They were the most for a Pirates starter since Jason Schmidt issued eight free passes against the Reds on Sept. 18, 1996. (The Pirates actually won, 5-3, with Schmidt lasting seven innings.)
_ Keller became the first Pirates pitcher with eight-plus walks but no hits allowed since _ you guessed it _ Dock Ellis during his no-hitter on June 12, 1970. (Ellis also walked eight.)
It also continued a recent trend for Pirates starting pitchers as a whole, one that now traces back 11 starts.
Since Sept. 16, Pirates starters have a 1.61 ERA. They've allowed one run or none in nine of those 11 outings. Over the last seven, Pirates starting pitchers have allowed just four earned runs in 43 1/3 innings (0.83 ERA) while striking out 65 and giving up three home runs.
Ironically, both of those aforementioned ERAs went up Friday after Keller gave up one earned run over five innings.
Keller immediately ran into control trouble, walking the first three batters of the game on 15 pitches. The fourth, first baseman Carlos Santana, inexplicably swung at the first pitch and hit into a double play, allowing shortstop Francisco Lindor to score.
Despite Keller's issues, the Indians seemingly had no interest in adjusting their approach. The right-hander had three first-pitch outs over the first three innings despite throwing just half of his pitches for strikes.
The Pirates took the lead in the fourth inning on a laser from Gregory Polanco, his seventh home run of the season, first since Sept. 17 and second this month.
Polanco got a first-pitch change-up down-and-in and absolutely crushed it, sending it screaming toward the right-field bleachers with an exit velocity of 113 mph.
The Pirates made it a 3-1 game in the top of the eighth inning in another quirky way. Ke'Bryan Hayes, who was 5 years old when former Pirates left-hander Oliver Perez made his MLB debut with the Padres on June 16, 2002, singled off Perez to score Adam Frazier from second.
Hayes now has hit safely in 18 of his first 22 big league games since he was recalled on Sept. 1.
