Mitch Keller Dazzles; Pirates Lose 5-2 in Rubber Match Against Padres

With two outs in the seventh, Chase De Jong was cruising until a ground ball by Austin Nola turned everything on its head. Cole Tucker made a nice pick; he threw it to Yoshi Tsutsugo a little low, and Tsustsgo couldn’t scoop it. The play was charged as an E6.

C.J. Abrams followed the error up with a double, placing Nola and Abrams at second and third two outs. In a 1-1 count, Trent Grisham hit a single to right field, plating two and making it a 3-0 Padres lead.

The Padres took the series from the Pirates two out of three. The final score read 5-2 Padres. The Pirates now travel to Detroit, where they play a quick two-game series. First pitch in Detroit on Tuesday is 7:10 p.m.

A Nola and Grisham single set up Manny Machado for his 16th RBI on the season with a single to left field, making it a 1-0 Padres lead in the third inning.

Mitch Keller dazzled Sunday afternoon besides the one run given up in the third inning. Keller induced seven swings and misses and topped out at 99.7 mph with his fastball. Keller stayed on the edges for the most part and used his off-speed stuff effectively, giving Pirates fans hope yet again.

Keller’s final line on the afternoon read six innings pitched, five hits, one earned run, no walks, and five strikeouts, and a 65% strike rate. Keller’s ERA now sits at 5.32

Chris Stratton entered the ninth inning to keep it close. Abrams delivered with runners on second and third with a sac-fly scoring Jose Azokar making it 4-2 Padres. One more run was added thanks to a Jake Cronenworth single scoring Nola. Padres led 5-2

In the seventh, a single by Jack Suwinski and a fielders choice by Cole Tucker set up Roberto Perez for an RBI single off the Clemente wall the Padres lead to 3-1.

The Pirates’ offense tried to claw back in the eighth with a sac fly from Michael Chavis, scoring Bryan Reynolds cutting the Padres’ lead to 3-2.