BRADENTON, Fla. -- Presented both with and without context, Mitch Keller’s spring season has been plain ugly. But even after his ERA ballooned to 16.20 in his fourth official start of the spring Monday, he and the club remain encouraged.
Keller yielded four runs, three earned, over 3.1 frames in the Pirates’ 6-5 victory in eight innings against the Orioles at LECOM Park. Keller gave up seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
“I think today was a step in the right direction,” Derek Shelton said. “He gave up some hits but the command was better. It's the best offspeed stuff we've seen all spring out of him. He threw two or three sliders that were really good.”
Following his previous outing against the Rays last Wednesday, Shelton noted a lack of execution and fastball command during an effort in which Keller was charged with eight runs in two innings. Monday’s outing wasn’t just an improvement, in the context that it simply wasn’t as bad as it’s been. But there were noticeable differences in Keller’s fastball.
“Fastball had been arm-side up and then it'd been fastball across his body down, which are two different variations,” Shelton said. “But today, the fact that he was able to bounce back and use his fastball in the zone was definitely an encouraging sign.”
Keller worked exclusively out of the stretch and stayed in the zone for much of the outing, throwing 52 of 72 pitches for strikes. He stayed around 96-97 mph with his fastball and got some good swing-and-miss with his slider.
It’s difficult to understand what constitutes a good outing when the results simply aren’t there. But with just more than a week left of spring training, Keller is finding encouragement in an ability just to find the zone.
“Just based off of feel. Threw a lot more strikes today, and that was the main thing, just going in and filling it up and letting my stuff play,” he said. “It's a fine line where you can't be trying to work on stuff too much. I mean, when you're working on stuff, it's competitive working on it. ... Everything we're working on is highly competitive out there, because you're not going to get any better if you're not competing when you're trying to work on stuff.”
The 24-year-old struggled to put hitters away and had 19 pitches fouled off, six of which came in the same battle against Ryan Mountcastle in the third.
“I mean, it's just weird. That's kind of how baseball goes sometimes,” Keller said, explaining that the fastball-slider combo needed a curveball wrinkle as Mountcastle continued to fight pitches off.
Shelton said that opening day roster decisions will likely go down to the last minute in spring training. Keller remains very much in the mix to be the guy to take the mound in Wrigley Field.
“That would mean the world. I think anybody who said it didn't matter would be lying to you,” Keller said of a potential opening day nod. “It's a huge honor to be one of the 30 guys toeing up the rubber for the first time for their team.”
But that opening series against the Cubs is rapidly approaching. And there’s not much to prove that he’s actually earned the opportunity. But, by overlooking the results, the Pirates are banking on the late 2020 version of Keller -- the one that did not allow a hit over his final 11 innings -- showing up for the regular season, and not the pitcher that’s been on display in the Grapefruit League.
“Just looking forward to the season. I'm not worried about that or worried about anything going on, where I'm at in the rotation,” Keller said. “I'm just worried about myself and trying to get better every single time out there and getting ready for the season.”
MORE FROM THIS GAME
• Kevin Newman had three hits -- the last of which may have been the result of some hometown scorekeeping -- and scored twice for the Pirates. The 27-year-old is batting an incredible .700 with eight runs scored this spring. He’s reached base safely in all nine games and 19 of his first 24 plate appearances this spring.
“I think the one thing that stands out is lengthening out at-bats, fouling off tough pitches to get himself into counts or into situations where he gets a good pitch to hit, and it’s been very impressive,” Shelton said. “I think the big point is the fact that we’re starting to see the work that we’ve done and the adjustments that we’ve made pay off in game situations. And that is important, and it is transferable.”
Newman started the game at shortstop, then swapped places with Erik Gonzalez at second base to start the fifth inning. He did the same with Cole Tucker in Saturday’s game against the Tigers.
Gonzalez is batting .379 this spring after recording two hits, a walk, two RBIs and a run scored on a comedy of Baltimore errors in the fifth.
• A trio of Pirates pitchers made their debuts with the club Monday against Baltimore. Veteran right-handers Trevor Cahill and Duane Underwood Jr. retired all nine batters they faced. Cahill threw 12 of 17 pitches for strikes after making 24 pitches in a “B” game Friday. He struck out one and got four outs on the ground in two innings.
“We’re going to continue to stretch [Cahill] out like he’s intending to start, then we’ll kind of see how far he is and work from there,” Shelton said, adding that the club does not plan on leaving him behind in Florida at all.
Underwood struck out a pair in a perfect seventh inning.
Luis Oviedo was credited with the save after allowing a run on a pair of hits. After surrendering a run-scoring double to Rio Ruiz, Oviedo bounced back to strike out Chris Shaw and get Chance Sisco to bounce to second for the final out.
“I think when you have young players after you three or four pitches ... sometimes they can get scattered and lose themselves, and he didn't,” Shelton said. “He bounced right back. ... So, that was an encouraging thing to see.”
• Phillip Evans continued his encouraging spring with a three-RBI afternoon. Evans delivered the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly in the opening inning, then punched a two-run single to left in the third. He is batting .273 in 22 at-bats.
• The Pirates made some more cuts after Monday’s game, reducing their roster to 48 active players in big league camp. Outfielder Jared Oliva and right-hander Edgar Santana were optioned while infielder Kevin Kramer and right-hander Shea Spitzbarth were reassigned.
• Newly-signed Steven Wright threw a bullpen session with Jacob Stallings before the game Monday.
• Make sure to set your alarms for Tuesday morning. The Pirates announced that single-game tickets sales to the first two homestands at PNC Park will begin at 10 a.m. This first wave of sales covers the first 12 home games against the Cubs, Padres, Royals and Cardinals. The ballpark should be available at about 25 percent capacity based on 6-foot social distancing regulations. All tickets will be electronic, and seating will be separated in pods of two or four.
• The Twins make the trip up from Fort Myers to Bradenton on Tuesday with Chase De Jong expected to take the mound against Air Force product Griffin Jax. Game is scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m. at LECOM Park.