'Turning points:' Keller gets back into All-Star groove, strikes out a dozen

MINNEAPOLIS -- As Jason Delay came out to the mound with the bases juiced and nobody out in the sixth inning Saturday, the initially thought between him and Mitch Keller was that he should go for the double play. A ground ball would let the tying run score, but at this junction, getting out of this jam in a tie would be a break for the Pirates.

But as the conversation continued, Delay changed his mind.

"Screw it. We're going to go punch 'em out."

"I was like, ‘Hell yeah, we’re gonna do it,' " Keller said about going for the strikeouts. "It just flipped my mentality to, ‘They’re not going to hit my stuff right now.’ That was the mentality and we made it work."

First Keller got Royce Lewis with a 97 mph fastball for the first out. Next, down went Donovan Solano, with the final pitch being a sweeper. Finally, with the bases loaded and two outs, Joey Gallo was unable to touch Keller's 98th pitch of the evening: A 97 mph full count fastball.

Pitching in front of his parents, brother, sister-in-law and grandma, a fired up Keller marched off of Target Field's pitcher's mound with the type of performance that made him an All-Star this year. He tossed six innings, allowed just two runs, struck out a dozen and led the Pirates to a 7-4 victory over the Twins.

It also seemed to show that the slump Keller battled through out of the second-half gate is behind him. In his first four starts post the All-Star break, Keller allowed 24 runs over 21 2/3 innings. That fifth start, some things started to click with his breaking pitches, which had been giving him the most trouble. So after striking out seven over six innings one-run ball on Aug. 13, Keller upped the ante Saturday, especially in that sixth inning.

"Those are turning points in seasons when you can get out of stuff like that," Keller said. "That was a moment in the game that could’ve turned pretty south pretty quickly."

During the pregame bullpen, Keller didn't feel good about his curveball and changeup, so those pitches were ditched for harder stuff, primarily the cutter and his fastballs. Throw that four-seamer away to righties, "just driving it through me," as Delay would describe it. Use the spin of the sinker to get those backdoor called strikes. If he gets those freezes with the sinker, the cutter could be used to go up and in on the belt to left-handers.

That cutter had been a problem pitch for Keller in the second half of the season, but after watching film on it from the first half, he realized he wasn't throwing it as hard, which was making it more hittable for batters. 

"I just needed to see that for myself," Keller said. "I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going to stop trying to manipulate this pitch and just throw it hard and let the action take care of itself.’ I think that’s kind of where the stepping stone has been, just getting back to throwing it hard and let the action do it rather than trying to make it happen."

Mix in the sweeper and Keller wound up getting 18 whiffs and 20 called strikes on the evening. That was one off his season-high of 39 called strikes and whiffs on May 14, which is when he set his career-high with 13 strikeouts.

"The plan going into tonight was to attack these guys with Mitch’s hard stuff," Delay said. "That’s been his mentality over the past couple of starts and it seems to be working for him well."

Keller pitched most of the night at a disadvantage since Twins starter Sonny Gray retired his first 16 batters faced. A rally of bloops and bleeders ended up bringing home three runs in the top of the sixth on two-out base hits by Andrew McCutchen and Ke'Bryan Hayes, which gave Keller his sixth inning lead that he and Delay decided they needed to protect at all costs rather than go for the double play. In the ninth, McCutchen launched a three-run homer to effectively seal the game for the Pirates.

But Keller kept it a ballgame before then, and that sixth inning will go down as one of Keller's best Houdini acts of the season.

"That's what he does," McCutchen said. "That's why he was an All-Star. He showed up."

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THE INJURIES

• 15-day injured list: RHP Carmen Mlodzinski (elbow), RHP Dauri Moreta (lower back)

• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), INF Tucupita Marcano (knee), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Ji Hwan Bae, CF
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
5. Josh Palacios, RF
6. Connor Joe, 1B
7. Jack Suwinski, CF
8. Liover Peguero, SS
9. Jason Delay, C

And for Rocco Baldelli's Twins:

1. Edouard Julien, 2B
2. Jorge Polanco, 3B
3. Carlos Correa, SS
4. Max Kepler, RF
5. Royce Lewis, DH
6. Donovan Solano, 1B
7. Joey Gallo, LF
8. Christian Vázquez, C
9. Michael A. Taylor, CF

THE SCHEDULE

The Pirates will try to take the series and split the two-city road trip Sunday. Ryan Borucki (1-0, 4.07) will be the Pirates' opener for Osvaldo Bido (2-3, 5.05), opposing former Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel (0-1, 9.45). First pitch is set for 2:10 p.m. Eastern. I'll have you covered.

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