Perrotto: Mitch Keller Transforms Into Pitcher Pirates Can Count On (+)
PITTSBURGH — One must go searching a lot of times to find bright spots from the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2022 season.
The Pirates’ losing streak reached seven games Thursday night as the Chicago Cubs edged them 3-2 at PNC Park in the opener of a four-game series. At 55-95, the Pirates must go 8-4 in its last dozen games to avoid back-to-back seasons of 100 losses.
The Pirates also took another step closer to a fourth consecutive last-place finish in the National League Central.
However, there was a silver lining in another dark cloud before a sparse crowd on the North Shore. Mitch Keller again showed his resiliency despite being the losing pitcher.
It was a tough-luck loss for Keller, who allowed just two runs on four hits in six innings while striking out seven and walking two. He certainly pitched well enough to win as he allowed three earned runs or less for the 17th time in 20 starts since a brief banishment to the bullpen in late May.
Early on, Keller wasn’t sharp. He had a hard time commanding his pitches.
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The Cubs put two runners on base in the first inning, but Keller escaped by getting Yan Gomes to hit into a double play. Keller wasn’t so fortunate in the second when rookie Christopher Morel hit a two-run double with two outs to open the scoring.
In his first three years in the major leagues, Keller would have folded, and the game would have gotten out of hand. The same thing would have happened in the first two months of this season.
However, Keller steadied himself and wound up having a quality start. It was a shining example of the confidence and poise he has exhibited since the beginning of June.
“First couple (of innings), I didn’t feel like I had much power behind my legs,” Keller said. “After the second inning, I kind of went in the dugout and just told myself I just needed to be more aggressive. I didn’t think anything delivery, didn’t think anything pitch-wise or anything like that. I just thought (be) more aggressive, just a mentality of being more aggressive. That was the key.”
Keller attacked the Cubs in the third inning and struck out the side. He ended up making it through six innings.
Keller also lowered his season ERA to 3.99. That might not seem like a reason to throw a party, but it is a significant accomplishment for Keller.
After getting knocked around for five runs in 4.2 innings by the Cincinnati Reds on May 13 at PNC Park, Keller’s ERA was at 6.61. Even always-upbeat Pirates manager Derek Shelton was exasperated by Keller at the end of that game.
“That’s definitely exciting, especially with where I started,” Keller said of the ERA. “So just to get it down there and hopefully keep going. I’ve got two or three more (starts) left and trying to get down as low as possible. We’re doing good things out there.”
Indeed, Keller is.
His ERA over 13 starts since July 11 is 2.73. His record in that span is 3-6 but that’s the function of playing for a bad team.
Keller isn’t a bad pitcher who folds at the first sign of trouble anymore. He is 26 years old and has 66 major league starts on his resume.
It has taken a while, but Keller is finally living up to the hype of being ranked as the 12th-best prospect in the game prior to the 2018 season by Baseball America.
“The ability to bounce back and be able to give us six (innings) and only give up two runs speaks to the maturation he’s shown as a pitcher,” Shelton said of Keller’s outing Thursday. “Those starts previously, all of a sudden, it’s three-and-a-third (innings) and he gives up four or five (runs). I was proud of the fact that he bounced back and was able to execute and get through six.”
Simply put, Keller has become a pitcher the Pirates can now count on.
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