The Marlins' Otto Lopez slides safely past Henry Davis in the fourth inning Tuesday night at PNC Park.
Mitch Keller's 10th quality start wasn't enough for the Pirates -- again -- in falling to Marlins, 3-2, tonight at PNC Park tonight, leaving his record at 1-9 despite a 4.15 ERA.
He allowed three runs on eight hits, striking out four, and no walks over six innings, but he also was the beneficiary of zero run support while still in the game, the fifth time that's happened already this season.
Total run support through 14 starts: 18.
“It's tough, man," Don Kelly would say to that subject. "He's pitched well enough to win some ballgames. He's done a great job, like he did tonight, with giving us a chance to win. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of times where we haven't been able to come through in those instances.”
Keller threw 56 of his 97 pitches for strikes. Of the 51 attempted swings by Miami batters, they swung through 16. He mixed his pitches and was effectively wild low in the zone, but the need to be almost perfect cost him in the third inning with this Nick Fortes two-run home run:
"Yeah, just not good enough, Keller said. “Just one run, not good enough. I was trying to get a ground ball double play and Fortes just made a good swing and hit it out of the park. Kind of the difference in the game right there."
In the fourth, Otto Lopez reached on a chopper deep in the hole at shortstop. After Keller got two quick outs on fly balls, a wild pitch skidded past Henry Davis, allowing Lopez to advance to second base:
... and score the deciding run on a shot into center by Eric Wagaman:
On the repeated challenge of no run support, Keller said, “I mean, yeah, it's not a challenge. The challenge is going out there every night trying to not give up runs against other lineups. That's the challenge for me and that's the challenge I'll always take out there. I try to control what I can control.”
Keller isn’t alone. Paul Skenes has started the same number of games and has received 29 runs of support while in the game, or 2.07 per game. Between Keller and Skenes, they’ve made 21 quality starts and are a combined 5-15.
As a team, the Pirates have tossed 32 quality starts in 68 games with the starter’s record at 11-10. Even with the improvement under Kelly to go 15-15, they've scored 30 runs in the nine games this month, 10 of those in a single game.
Just a reminder that they still have Major League Baseball's second-worst offense at 220 runs, or 13 more than the historically rancid 12-54 Rockies.
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THE ASYLUM
Eric Bowser
3:43 am - 06.11.2025NORTH SHOREGoing Deep: Keller keeps being left hanging
JOE SARGENT / GETTY
The Marlins' Otto Lopez slides safely past Henry Davis in the fourth inning Tuesday night at PNC Park.
Mitch Keller's 10th quality start wasn't enough for the Pirates -- again -- in falling to Marlins, 3-2, tonight at PNC Park tonight, leaving his record at 1-9 despite a 4.15 ERA.
He allowed three runs on eight hits, striking out four, and no walks over six innings, but he also was the beneficiary of zero run support while still in the game, the fifth time that's happened already this season.
Total run support through 14 starts: 18.
“It's tough, man," Don Kelly would say to that subject. "He's pitched well enough to win some ballgames. He's done a great job, like he did tonight, with giving us a chance to win. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of times where we haven't been able to come through in those instances.”
Keller threw 56 of his 97 pitches for strikes. Of the 51 attempted swings by Miami batters, they swung through 16. He mixed his pitches and was effectively wild low in the zone, but the need to be almost perfect cost him in the third inning with this Nick Fortes two-run home run:
"Yeah, just not good enough, Keller said. “Just one run, not good enough. I was trying to get a ground ball double play and Fortes just made a good swing and hit it out of the park. Kind of the difference in the game right there."
In the fourth, Otto Lopez reached on a chopper deep in the hole at shortstop. After Keller got two quick outs on fly balls, a wild pitch skidded past Henry Davis, allowing Lopez to advance to second base:
... and score the deciding run on a shot into center by Eric Wagaman:
On the repeated challenge of no run support, Keller said, “I mean, yeah, it's not a challenge. The challenge is going out there every night trying to not give up runs against other lineups. That's the challenge for me and that's the challenge I'll always take out there. I try to control what I can control.”
Keller isn’t alone. Paul Skenes has started the same number of games and has received 29 runs of support while in the game, or 2.07 per game. Between Keller and Skenes, they’ve made 21 quality starts and are a combined 5-15.
As a team, the Pirates have tossed 32 quality starts in 68 games with the starter’s record at 11-10. Even with the improvement under Kelly to go 15-15, they've scored 30 runs in the nine games this month, 10 of those in a single game.
Just a reminder that they still have Major League Baseball's second-worst offense at 220 runs, or 13 more than the historically rancid 12-54 Rockies.
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