BRADENTON, Fla. -- Derek Shelton admits he sometimes has difficulty tracking exactly which Mitch Keller pitch is which. After all, he's up to six now.
"Oscar [Marin] and Mecc [Justin Meccage] have a good idea and I'm still asking, 'What is that?' because I'm learning the pitch," Shelton said.
It looked like the Blue Jays had plenty of trouble tracking those breaking balls too, Saturday at LECOM Park. Keller got the ball for the Pirates' spring opener, and while the Pirates would go on to lose, 9-7, Keller was terrific out of the gate, pumping 96 and 97 mph fastballs and striking out a pair over two scoreless innings.
"I felt really good," Keller said. "It's always good to get out there and face a different color jersey rather than our own guys. Just takes the intensity [up] a little bit more. So yes, it's great to be back out there."
Keller threw all six of his pitches Saturday: The four-seamer, sinker, changeup, curveball, sweeper and the one he's bringing back to his arsenal, the cutter. It's his original slider that he threw when he broke into the majors, which he often refers to as his gyro slider. The general rule of thumb is if it's up in the zone, it's a cutter. If it's down and away, it's the gyro slider.
Wait, does that mean he really has seven pitches? Well, it's just another one to have at his disposal on any given day to pick and choose based on matchups and feel:
"I've never thrown a true cutter," Keller said about the repertoire change. "I used to throw a gyro slider down in the zone back in 2019. So the thought was trying to get back to a gyro slider for lefties and it kind of turned into, ‘OK, I can cut this and throw it up and in to a lefty.’ And then it just kind of developed. It’s the same grip. It's just different mentality of throwing it up rather than throwing it down just changes the metrics of the pitch a little bit. So, same pitch, cutter and gyro, all the same grip just depends on location."
It's an approach like that, plus his revamped stuff, that helped Keller click in the second half of last year and make him the unofficial head of this rotation.
"I trust Mitch’s work," Oscar Marin said in anticipation of this start. "He's been ready to go for a while. I think one of his offseason sides, the last one before he came in, he was up to 97-98 mph. So I’m not too worried about Mitch being ready."
He looked ready, but the goal isn't to start spring training. It's to start opening day against the Reds in Cincinnati.
"It’d be awesome, just to have that recognition," Keller said. "It's an honor to pitch on that day. To be one of 30 people to do it would be a huge honor to me and it'd be awesome."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Rodolfo Castro got his spring going in a big way, hitting a grand slam off of former Pirate Zach Thompson:
Rodolfo Castro ate and left no crumbs. pic.twitter.com/srAKTsfe6P
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) February 25, 2023
Not a bad first impression for someone who is in competition for that second base job.
"The decision of the [swing] decisions he makes, especially left-handed, are extremely important," Shelton said on what Castro can show to win that job.
• Years from now when you're asked during a baseball trivia night who was the first Pirate to be called for a pitch-clock violation, you can safely answer, "Roansy Contreras." And if they ask who the second was, you can say, Jarlín García.
García was tagged for a homer and David Bednar gave up a pair of long balls as well. It's the first game of spring. There's plenty of time to sort things out.
Chase De Jong and non-roster lefties Rob Zastryzny and Daniel Zamora all tossed scoreless innings, but Duane Underwood Jr. was tagged for three runs -- two earned -- on four hits and two walks, with one of the former being a home run.
• Andrew McCutchen went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts as the designated hitter in his first game wearing black and gold since 2017. The colors suit him, and the home crowd made sure to acknowledge he's back as he stepped into the box that first time.
• No game Sunday since the Rays' spring home in Port Charlotte was hit hard during hurricane season last year. The Pirates are opting for a work day and a four-inning sim game instead.
