Starting pitching's at the wheel for Pirates' best start since 1992

The Pirates scoring 33 runs in three games at Coors Field turned a number of heads. As it should have.

Now, it's beyond time to give the pitching staff its due.

The Pirates continued their winning ways, defeating the Reds, 4-2, Friday night at PNC Park, marking the first time this team has won five games in a row under Derek Shelton. Now at 14-7 on the season, this is the franchise's best start through 21 games since starting 15-6 in 1992, the year of the last time they won a division title.

No pressure.

"Winning five in a row is difficult," Shelton said. "We’ve done it in a bunch of different ways. We’ve done where we’ve scored a bunch of runs. We’ve done it where we had to create runs like we did today and take advantage of an error. Throughout all of it, our pitching has been really good."

In this context, "really good" is defined as 11 straight quality starts. That's not only the longest for the Pirates since 2015, it's longer than any streak put together in all of Major League Baseball last season. And, it's only April 21.

Mitch Keller continued that streak with a performance that displayed both how far he's come as a pitcher and just how dominant he can be at this level. All in all, Keller pitched six innings, giving up two runs on four hits with one walk and five strikeouts. His first four innings gave everyone a taste of the best version of Keller as he retired the first 11 batters of the game. 

"He's started to become that guy," Shelton said. "I thought for four innings he was about as dominant as he's been."

Keller's no-hit bid ended with a leadoff single in the fifth inning, and it didn't take long for his outing to go from complete domination to wondering if the Pirates would fall behind before the third out was recorded after taking a 2-0 lead on a Mark Mathias two-run single in the second. Keller struck out Wil Myers after Tyler Stephenson's leadoff single, but he then walked Jason Vosler and Nick Senzel broke through with an RBI single to make it a 2-1 ballgame. Then Jose Barrero tied the game with a sacrifice fly.

For anyone who watched the Pirates in 2022, these type of games were lost very quickly. In the rare cases that the Pirates had an early lead, the minute a young starter got into any trouble, leads would evaporate far too often, and then an inexperienced lineup would be forced to play catchup in the latter innings.

On Friday, Keller put out the fire after allowing the two runs, keeping the game tied. He then bounced back with a solid sixth inning, and the offense rewarded him by capitalizing on an error by Barrero, taking a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth. 

"I got a little out of rhythm there (in the fifth). First time out of the stretch, maybe the second time," Keller said. "Just a little out of rhythm, but I thought we did a nice job keeping it to two (runs) and nothing else after that."

There's the proof of Keller's growth. Good young pitchers can lose their composure too often and try to be too perfect the moment things get a bit tough, no matter how much they might have dominated beforehand. The good pitchers -- the ones who have long big league careers -- find ways to limit the damage and live to fight another inning. If you're looking for traits that can tell you just how good Keller can be, being able to do that is an awfully important one.

In an even bigger picture, the Pirates' going 14-7 in the first 21 games of a season for the first time in 31 years is a big deal. But, doing it with this type of performance from the starting rotation is a potential game-changer. It doesn't matter what era of baseball you're familiar with, having good pitching always provides an easier path to success. If a team can pitch, they stand a much better chance to compete. 

And this group, this mix of young talent and established veterans, is completely invested in one another. It's one of the reasons why they've put together such an impressive streak of quality starts.

"Every night we’re in the dugout watching the next starter," Keller said. "We’ve got a pretty tight group with the starters. We go out and watch everyone’s bullpens in pregame and midweek. We’re helping each other out, which is awesome. It’s a huge testament to why we’re doing well. We have a really good relationship together. Everybody wants to do well and keep that going."

Keeping this going is much easier to do when the rotation is finding a way to attack the strike zone without getting hit hard. Shelton said it prior to Friday's game and Keller emphasized afterward -- this rotation has been successful thus far because they're not afraid to attack hitters. In addition, they've got a pretty good tandem in Austin Hedges and Jason Delay behind the plate, helping guide each pitcher through each game plan. 

"Just being aggressive with our stuff in the zone, throwing our best and nastiest stuff in the zone as best as we can," Keller said. "I think that lets us expand the zone even more. If they know we’re throwing strikes, we can probably get away with a little bit more here and there. They’re going to be more swing happy or whatever it may be."

Of course, a team doesn't win two-thirds of their games by just pitching. The offense has found ways to produce runs, either through lots of crooked numbers of timely hitting, and the defense has been more than solid behind whoever is on the mound. In addition, the bullpen has locked down a lot of games as Colin Holderman recorded his seventh hold of the season and David Bednar recorded his seventh save of the season to seal Friday night's win.

But, when all else fails, pitching can be the catalyst for long-term success. For now, the team is going to keep this streak going as long as they can.

"It’s great right now, for sure," Keller said. "We’re playing really good baseball, pitchers are throwing, defense is great, hitters are hitting. It’s awesome. Just keep going, man. Just keep going."

MORE FROM PNC PARK

• For the most part, the offense was held in check by Reds starter Graham Ashcraft. The Pirates mustered only six hits all night, and three of those didn't come until after Ashcraft was done with his five innings of work.

After Connor Joe scored on Barrero's error in the sixth, the veteran hitters came through to add some valuable insurance, giving the bullpen some breathing room.

After Andrew McCutchen drew a two-out walk in the seventh, Carlos Santana had a great at-bat against Ian Gibaut. The first two pitches nearly hit Santana, then two pitches later, Santana hit a line drive that made its way all the way to the wall in left-center field. McCutchen ran hard and scored from first base, putting the Pirates up, 4-2.

"You appreciate the way Cutch does a lot of things," Shelton said. "He doesn’t let the three prior at bats affect his last at bat, gets a walk. Santana gets two balls close to him, stays in there and drives a double in the gap. ... I think there were a lot of things that the veteran guys did at the end that were really, uh, veteran-ish." 

That's a new way to put it.

"I don’t know if that’s a word," Shelton laughed. "But I’m going to use it."

The top four hitters in the Pirates' lineup went 1 for 14 Friday night, with the lone hit being Santana's RBI double. Only veteran hitters can put that putrid of a performance behind them and get the job done when its needed.

• Joe just keeps hitting. He racked up three of the Pirates' six hits, raising his slash line to .377/.459/.679 on the season. In addition, Joe made a couple of sound defensive plays. One the Reds' first hit of the game, he held Stephenson to a single with a quick throw from the right field corner. Then, he made a slick sliding catch in foul territory to preserve Keller's six quality innings. 

"I think he gets overlooked," Shelton said. "He was a guy we targeted in the offseason because of the way he controls at bats, and he continues to get better in the outfield. Good swings tonight, three hits, the walk there at the end, good jumps, defensively, made some nice plays. ... I use this term a lot but Connor Joe's a baseball player. You talk to him, the way he prepares, the way he goes about it, he's locked in every pitch, regardless if he's playing or not."

• It might be getting passed the time when Joe is being overlooked. In his final plate appearance of the night, he drew a walk while 17,000-plus chanted, JOE! JOE! JOE! JOE! JOE! 

The fans already love this guy.

• Keller earned the Pikachu doll that players are passing off to another for a good performance when the team wins. Roansy Contreras was the previous owner of Pikachu and was the one to give it to Keller Friday night.

"He gave it to me right after the game," Keller said. "It’s a cool little thing we’ve got going. We’re having a lot of fun."

• As if the team wasn't having enough fun, bench coach Don Kelly now has to shave his head since the team won its fifth straight game. Who gets the honors is still a bit of a mystery, but Shelton might have the inside scoop.

"I think they’re lining up to see who cuts Donnie’s hair right now," he said. "I think [Mike] Rabelo’s been wanting to do it for awhile. That’s probably who’s going to end up doing it."

• Earlier on Friday, Class AAA Indianapolis placed Endy Rodriguez and Travis Swaggerty on the 7-day injured list. Swaggerty is dealing with an illness, but Rodriguez's status is definitely something to watch closely. He suffered a right forearm injury while making a throw from behind home plate to second base in the eighth inning of the Indians' loss to Memphis Thursday night.

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THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: 1B Ji-Man Choi (Achilles)

• 15-day injured list: RHP Chase De Jong (lumbar spine), Rob Zastryzny (elbow)

• 60-day injured list: RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Connor Joe, RF
6. Jack Suwinski, CF
7. Mark Mathias, 2B
8. Rodolfo Castro, SS
9. Austin Hedges, C

And for David Bell's Reds:

1. Jonathan India, 2B
2. TJ Friedl, LF
3. Spencer Steer, 3B
4. Jake Fraley, DH
5. Tyler Stephenson, C
6. Wil Myers, RF
7. Jason Vosler, 1B
8. Nick Senzel, CF
9. Jose Barrero, SS

THE SCHEDULE

Next up in this four-game set: Rich Hill (1-2, 5.57) takes on another righty, Luis Cessa (0-2, 13.50). First pitch 6:35 p.m. Chris Halicke will be here.

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