Keller finally sharp in shutout victory
ST. LOUIS — Mitch Keller needed a start like this. He might not admit that. He doesn’t have to. The Pirates pitcher, beaten down and frustrated earlier this season, was due for the pendulum to swing the other way and it finally did on a splendid night in St. Louis.
In five scoreless innings, Keller showed exactly what he can be — a downright dominant pitcher with terrific stuff. He missed bats. He attacked. He pitched with confidence. The result was a feel-good, 40 victory for the Pirates over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, their first of this road trip and just their third in the past 18 games.
What the Pirates saw from Keller is exactly what they hoped for after they sent him to Class AAA earlier this season to get right again. Keller’s fastball, which averaged 93.6 mph and maxed out at 96, was the best its been all season, no
question. It helped him slide into favorable counts, and Keller comported himself well there.
It’s also the first version of this Keller the Pirates have seen since he was called up. In three previous starts, Keller had pitched to a 6.28 ERA, leading to plenty of here-we-go-again chatter surrounding the former top prospect.
For the first time in a long time — and this has been a recent focus, he told the Post-Gazette a couple of days prior in a strikingly honest interview — Keller seemed to have fun while also pitching with a bit of an edge, the 25-year-old visibly pumped when the Pirates turned a double play behind him to erase a leadoff single in the third.
Keller rewarded that sturdy defense by striking out third baseman Nolan Arenado looking — no surprise, on a fastball. That Arenado strikeout came low and away, which is hardly a bad place to live, but Keller did his best work with his heater up in the zone.
Keller routinely threw his fastball with purpose, avoiding the middle of the zone, and he forced the Cardinals to take several defensive swings.
One of the best fastballs Keller threw the entire game came in the second inning to strike out left fielder Tyler O’Neill looking. Low and outside. Perfect paint job.
Keller whiffed shortstop Paul DeJong later that inning with two runners on, this time with a fastball up and a little in. DeJong went down swinging again in the fourth, on a heater up and away.
Overall, Keller finished with a career-high 10 whiffs on his fastball, while even the hits he allowed were not terribly well-struck. None were for extra bases. The Cardinals hit just four balls off Keller that had an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher.
Keller had to extricate himself from some trouble in his final inning, as pinchhitter Austin Dean and second baseman Tommy Edman each singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Keller got first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to line out to third, and third baseman Nolan Arenado flew out to left to end the threat.
Aside from his fastball command, another thing Keller did really well was locate his slider and curveball, especially when ahead in counts. Sometimes Keller even over- compensated, bouncing a bunch in the dirt that Jacob Stallings expertly blocked.
The confidence in his fastball led Keller to throw it 63% of the time, which is above his season average (57%). Keller also relied on his slider more — 29% against the Cardinals compared to 23% on the season.
Friday marked Keller’s third career start against the Cardinals, and he finished with a line of five innings, six hits, no runs, a walk and five strikeouts. He’s now 2-0 in his career against St. Louis while allowing just one earned run in 16 innings (0.56 ERA).
The Pirates saw a seminew face in Miles Mikolas, who was making his first start since May 22 and only his second in the past two years because of injuries.
Mikolas was good, if a little erratic, early on. He walked two, hit one and leaned on a couple of stellar defensive plays early, as center fielder Harrison Bader made a diving grab to rob Colin Moran and Edman spun in the hole to get Gregory Polanco.
Bader made another spectacular catch on Bryan Reynolds in the third inning before he goofed, and the Pirates took advantage.
The two-run inning started with a Moran single to right.
Stallings singled to center, and Bader got careless when charging the ball, allowing it to roll under his glove.
Moran took advantage and scored from first. The Pirates’ other speedster, Stallings, motored into third. Polanco drove a fly ball to left, and Stallings was able to rest his legs on the sacrifice fly.
The Pirates added to their lead in the sixth. Reynolds led off with a double, moved to third on a fly ball from Moran and scored thanks to another sacrifice fly for Polanco, giving the Pirates right fielder his first two-RBI game since July 30.
Newcomer Yoshi Tsutsugo drove a solo homer into the Cardinals bullpen in the eighth for the Pirates’ final run of the game.