Series Win Against Reds Highlights Pirates’ Strengths, Exposes Weaknesses

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 in the rubber match of a three-game series on Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park.

Mitch Keller led the Pirates by throwing seven-plus shutout innings as he continues to roll ever since the start of May.

Keller threw a complete game against the Los Angeles Angels on May 6, his first start of the month. It was the first of now eight starts in a row in which Keller has tossed at least six innings. Over that stretch, he has a 1.54 ERA and has allowed more than two runs in a start once.

“I think the efficiency. That’s the thing,” manager Derek Shelton said on the key for Keller of late. “He’s been efficient. And today, he had really good stuff. I think the most impressive thing is he’s had a couple starts where he hasn’t had good stuff and he’s still giving us those innings. When you become a pitcher of that caliber, that’s what the expectation is. And he’s really stepped up to that role.”

Keller’s start on Wednesday was the third strong outing from Pirates’ starting pitchers during their series against the Reds.

On Monday night, rookie Paul Skenes allowed one run in six innings pitched and struck out seven in a 4-1 Pirates’ win. On Tuesday, Bailey Falter surrendered a pair of runs across seven innings but the Pirates fell 2-1.

As good as the starting pitching has been for the Pirates, their collective work against Cincinnati this week raised the bar. Take into account seven-scoreless innings from the bullpen and the pitching unit was firing on all cylinders.

“I don’t know if we’ve pitched better than we did in this series,” Shelton said following Wednesday’s win.

The starting rotation was a question mark heading into the season but has carried the team to a 36-38 record and the thick of a crowded Wild Card mix at the halfway point of the season inches closer.

The bullpen looked like it was going to be a key strength of the team at the start of the season. After a sluggish start from the crop of relievers, the bullpen has gotten better as the year has gone on.

“I think they’re hitting their groove right now,” Keller said of the bullpen. “Any time you give the ball over to Holderman, I have really good confidence and anybody, really, coming out of the pen. Our relief guys are really nasty.”

While the collective pitching carried the Pirates’ to a very important series win, it was the offense that prevented an even sweeter series sweep.

To the Pirates’ credit, they did face two very good young pitchers. Left-hander Nick Lodolo, the winning pitcher on Tuesday, is 8-2 with a 2.76 ERA. Hunter Greene, who blanked the Pirates across 6.1 innings on Wednesday, sports a 5-2 record with a 3.35 ERA.

But if the Pirates do end up reaching their ultimate goal of the postseason, they are going to face good pitching day in and day out. Even with the efforts of the pitching staff, the offense will need to provide more run support.

At the conclusion of play on Wednesday, the Pirates rank 22nd in baseball with 299 runs scored, an average of 4.04 runs per game. The Bucs are 25th in batting average (.230), and 26th in both on-base percentage (.298) and slugging (.360).

If the starting pitching can continue to perform at a high level as they have been all season and the bullpen continues to emerge, improved offense could be what separates the Pirates from the rest of the pack in the Wild Card race.

“We’ve got to do all three to play good baseball,” said Bryan Reynolds, whose game-winning home run on Wednesday extended his hitting streak to 17 games. “That’s our goal.”