Difo's drop caps collapse, but the focus should be on Keller's gem

CHICAGO -- There’s no reason to hide it. You clicked on the article to see this play:

There it is, the deciding play in the Pirates’ 6-5 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Second baseman Wilmer Difo didn’t get under an Ian Happ pop up in the 11th inning and it fell in safely, allowing the deciding run to score. 

But I’m going to bury the lede. Because that’s not what really mattered for the Pirates Thursday. Not in the long-term, at least:

That distinction belongs to Mitch Keller, who tossed six of the best innings of his career Thursday. No runs, no walks, eight strikeouts.

“He commanded everything, went right after his guys,” Derek Shelton said. “Outstanding outing.”

“It feels really good,” Keller said. “I just keep building that confidence that I’ve been going after.”

That strikeout gif shown above was probably the pitch that defined his outing. After putting runners on the corners with one out in the first, Keller struck out the next two, including a 96 mph heater that was exactly where Jacob Stallings wanted it. When a pitcher does that, it's usually lights out for a hitter.

"[He] kept his composure, continued to execute pitches," Shelton said.

Through the ups and downs of the season -- the downs including a trip to the minors -- Thursday was a win for Keller, even if it won’t show up on the back of the baseball card.

Here’s what mattered:

HE MOVED THE FASTBALL AROUND

Early in the year, Keller primarily used his fastball up in the zone, but with less spin and spotty control, it didn’t play as well up there.

On Thursday, he moved it all around the strike zone. Take a look where his 19 called strikes were tonight, 15 of which were with the fastball:

Some were high, some were low. His best results were to his glove side, but he could drop it inside to right-handed batters as well. 

“It [gives me] a lot of confidence, especially when you can move your fastball around,” Keller said. “It feels like it’s three different pitches or four different pitches, honestly, if you can throw up and away, up and in, down and in and down and away. It feels like that’s four different pitches and I don’t have to put so much stress on my other pitches to be as good.”

The velocity held better late into the outing too, hitting 96 mph in the sixth inning. There were a couple times he dipped into the low-90s, but he showed he can dial up the velocity late. 

THE SLIDER PLAYED

The fastball has been the focal point this year when assessing most of Keller’s outings this year. The breaking pitches often determine the effectiveness of an outing.

On Thursday, he got seven whiffs on 14 swings against the slider, the second-most he ever had in a start in the majors. Like the fastball, he moved it around the zone, getting a couple punchouts up, while occasionally ramping up the spin to over 2,400 RPM.

The curveball is the better tunnel pitch, but when he’s moving the fastball around, he has the same luxury with the slider. It could either dive off the plate for whiffs or hang in there a bit to get a called strike. 

“His slider was as good as we’ve seen it and just continued to execute throughout the game,” Shelton said. “Ahead in the count, behind in the count.”

HE DIDN’T WALK ANYONE

In Keller’s six starts since being recalled from the minors, he’s walked zero or one batters in four of those outings. Over his first dozen starts in his first stint in the majors and his five starts in 2020, he had four such outings.

For Keller, so much of the battle is avoiding the self-inflicted damage, both for base runner and pitch count reasons. On Thursday, he showed it’s not the singles that beat him. It’s when he lets those singles come after putting guys on base. 

“I thought he showed some good confidence out there attacking the zone,” Colin Moran said. “Letting his stuff play because he's got really good stuff."

IT’S MITCH KELLER

Does this even need to be said? I mean, every time he takes the hill, he's arguably the most important player for the Pirates that game.

Coming into the year, Keller was pegged as the guy who was supposed to anchor this rotation. It didn’t happen, though he did show plenty of flashes that he was putting things together. Individual games where he would avoid the big hit, get out of a jam and put up zeroes.

But he looked different Thursday, and he felt different than he did earlier in the season.

“Right now, it just kind of feels like everything is synced up delivery-wise, where I feel my timing and the way it’s coming out of my hand feels really good where I can throw it wherever I want to, whereas early in the season I was scuffling and trying to find that release point and find what that feels like,” Keller said. “It’s really hard to explain – I don’t know how to explain it – but I had that feeling tonight, which was great.”

We’ll get into everything else that happened in that game, but Keller’s performance is the one that could have the greatest impact going forward. He was the Pirates’ top pitching prospect not long ago. 

A night like Thursday shows that the idealized version of Keller is still in there.

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Look, I've buried the lede this far. Once I get rolling about what went wrong in this game, it's gonna just keep going.

So let's point out a couple more good things first.

Like this Moran dinger:

That was his first road home run since April 18, a three-run blast that put the Pirates up early.

"Felt good," he said. "Got a good pitch to hit."

• More good: David Bednar. Man, can this kid sling it.

After tossing a 1-2-3 ninth to force extras, he was almost done in by the runner on second rule by immediately giving up a ground ball to the right side, advancing the potential deciding run 90 feet away. He gave himself some breathing room by getting Robinson Chirinos to strike out swinging, bringing up Austin Romine.

Shelton went out to talk to him on the mound, but it was just to give a report on Romine. He had it mapped out that his big arm out of the bullpen was going to go two frames.

"We felt really comfortable with him going back out there in that situation, and he did an outstanding job," Shelton said.

Here was the kill pitch against Romine:

That was his 29th pitch over two innings, and he still hit the glove with 96 mph heat. He struck out four with two ground outs and an intentional walk on the night.

Nick Mears and Chris Stratton stopped the bleeding and in the seventh and eighth, but Bednar stole the show.

• Um, there was this gif-able home run celebration:

Ok... onto the bad stuff.

• After handing the ball over to the bullpen because his spot in the order came up to bat in the seventh, Chad Kuhl hung a pair of pitches right down the middle that were tagged out to right field. 

First, it was Rafael Ortega with a homer to right off a 98 mph, belt high fastball to tie the game. Two batters later, Ian Happ went to right-center off a hanging knuckle-curve to give the Cubs a 5-3 edge.

"When you miss in the middle of the zone in the big leagues, you’re going to get hit," Shelton said.

• After pinch-hitter Michael Pérez tied the game in the ninth with a two-run single to right -- his first hit since August 1 -- Cole Tucker came up to bat with runners on the corners and just one out. He bounced one to second baseman Matt Duffy though, starting an inning-ending double play.

Tucker went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and that double play on the night. The only time the leadoff hitter was on base was in the top of the 10th because of the runner on second rule in extra innings. He was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a Bryan Reynolds hopper to first base, going on a contact play and being thrown out by a good margin.

GETTY

Wilmer Difo drops the ball.

• I'm not posting the gif again.

Sam Howard relieved Bednar in the 11th, and Ortega quickly bunted Sergio Alcántara to third base to start the frame.

It looked like perhaps Stallings had a chance at the play at third, but third baseman Hoy Park came in on the ball to try to field it rather than cover the base.

"It’s a tough read for any third baseman, much less for a guy that hasn’t played over there a ton of time, because of the angle that you’re coming at," Shelton said. "If that ball goes four or five more feet out, then we’re wondering why he didn’t come in and field it and now we’re first and third."

That put the winning run 90 feet away, and then Happ popped one up.

Cue the drop off.

"I think off the bat, instead of getting behind it, he drifted to it, and you cannot drift on any balls in this ballpark with the way the wind plays," Shelton said.

"It’s a frustrating loss, because we battled our butts off the entire game, and he’s just got to get behind that baseball."

• Earlier in the game, Difo overthrew Keller on a routine toss back to the mound after a leadoff hit. That ball ended up rolling to the backstop, allowing Ortega to turn a routine single into a little league double.

That's a heck of a way to bookend a game defensively.

• The Pirates are 48-86. They will need to go at least 15-13 down the stretch to avoid a 100 loss season. The last time they won at least 15 of 28 games was Sept. 23, 2020 through April 27, 2021.

• Before the game, Phillip Evans was recalled from the taxi squad, with the Pirates optioning Wednesday's starter, Max Kranick.

Evans started at third base and went 0-for-3 before being pinch-hit for in the ninth for Park. Ke'Bryan Hayes took fielding and throwing drills before the game, but didn't swing during team batting practice again.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Cole Tucker, SS
2. Ben Gamel, RF
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Colin Moran, 1B
5. Jacob Stallings, C
6. Wilmer Difo, 2B
7. Anthony Alford, LF
8. Phillip Evans, 3B
9. Mitch Keller, RHP

And for David Ross' Cubs:

1. Rafael Ortega, CF
2. Frank Schwindel, 1B
3. Ian Happ, LF
4. Patrick Wisdom, 3B
5. Matt Duffy, 2B
6. Jason Heyward, RF
7. Robinson Chirinos, C
8. Sergio Alcántara, SS
9. Keegan Thompson, RHP

THE SYSTEM

• Indianapolis
• Altoona
• Greensboro
• Bradenton

THE SCHEDULE

The Pirates and Cubs are playing day games for the remainder of this four-game series. Steven Brault (0-3, 4.57) will take on Alec Mills (6-6, 4.32) at 2:20 p.m. Eastern. I've got you covered from Wrigley.

THE CONTENT

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