PITTSBURGH — Mitch Keller will have better starts. The right-hander will have longer ones, too. In more meaningful games. But at least at this point in his young career, it’s doubtful Keller has had a more emotional or fulfilling outing than what he experienced Saturday.
After a rough spring and plenty of doubts cast regarding his potential and future place in the starting rotation, Keller took a sizable step in the right direction during the Pirates’ 8-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs, earning his first-ever win at PNC Park.
The 25-year-old worked five innings and allowed an earned run on five hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. After walking the first batter of the game and allowing a run-scoring double to third baseman Kris Bryant, Keller shut the door and offered a reminder of why so many people in the organization believe in him.
One of those people is obviously manager Derek Shelton, who shared an emotional embrace with Keller in the Pirates dugout after informing the right-hander he was done for the night.
The past couple months haven’t been easy for Keller, who had a 11.91 ERA — worst on the team — in five Grapefruit League starts. Fastball command has been an issue for Keller. The lack of it contributed to 25 hits and 18 earned runs allowed 14 1/3 combined innings, with 12 walks and just 15 strikeouts in his previous six starts. Mistakes also contributed to four home runs allowed for Keller.
With the volume turned up awful high, Keller remained calm. It was not a mental issue, he insisted after his first start of the season in Chicago. He and pitching coach Oscar Marin were working on a few things, and Keller was confident they soon would click.
Although it’s only one start, they did against the Cubs, allowing the Pirates to snap their six-game losing streak and win for the first time since opening day.
Keller’s start to the game was actually a little shaky, as he walked center fielder Ian Happ on five pitches. But for whatever reason, he turned things around in a hurry starting with a strikeout of the next batter, catcher Willson Contreras.
After a first inning where he threw just five of 12 fastballs for strikes, Keller pounded the zone with five of eight in the second inning. He regularly got ahead of hitters and was able to use all of his pitches. Keller even threw his change-up five times.
The right-hander allowed a leadoff single to shortstop Javier Baez in the second inning but coolly buzzed through the bottom of the order. With Baez on again, Keller struck out right fielder Jason Heyward swinging on a 98 mph fastball — his best of the night — to end the fourth inning.
In all, Keller generated 14 whiffs while using his four-seam fastball to complete five of his seven strikeouts. It was absolutely the type of start the Pirates have been looking for out Keller, where he dominated the strike zone.
The Pirates’ second-inning rally was started by, of all people, Jacob Stallings. The defensive-minded catcher entered the game hitting just .188 following a spring where he batted just .147. Although the numbers obviously don’t look great, Stallings has been happy with his at-bats.
“I've been feeling pretty good,” Stallings said Saturday afternoon. “I've had some really hard lineouts that just haven’t found holes. … I think I was getting a little annoyed, more so with the lack of results just because I felt like I was putting together good at-bats.”
Stallings found a hole against Cubs starter Zach Davies and smacked a 1-1 change-up into left-center field for a two-run single. Adam Frazier followed by yanking a run-scoring double into the right-fielder corner, as the Davies offering he hit — a first-pitch change-up — was in pretty much the exact same spot.
That gave the Pirates a 3-1 lead before Bryan Reynolds went down and got a sinker from Davies, driving it with power to the opposite field. The ball one-hopped the wall near the North Side Notch for a ground-rule double, scoring two more.
Colin Moran drove in the final two runs of the inning, pulling an outside change-up to right field.
Spotted a six-run lead, the best thing a pitcher can do is throw strikes, and that’s exactly Keller did in the third, recording three quick outs on 12 pitches.
The outing was a disaster for Davies, who was terrific and gave the Cubs 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball in a 4-3 victory over the Pirates at Wrigley Field on April 4. But this time, the Pirates had Davies’ number. The start was the shortest of Davies’ career, while he tied his career-high for runs allowed in a start.
Keller and the second-inning outburst weren’t the only bright spots for the Pirates. Phillip Evans homered in the sixth inning, clobbering his third of the season in just 23 at-bats. He’s hitting .364. Cubs reliever Dillon Maples missed with a sinker up. Evans made him pay with a 415-foot homer.
Duane Underwood Jr. followed Keller with two innings of scoreless, hitless work, striking out three. A negative was the offensive struggles of Anthony Alford, who went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts. After winning the starting center field job out of spring training, Alford has opened the regular season by going hitless in 15 at-bats with 12 strikeouts.
