Mitch Keller won his first start of the season, then went 15 starts before earning his second win of the season in the Pirates' 9-1 rout of the Mets at PNC Park tonight.
Keller’s line wasn't his best this season going 5 1/3 innings, one earned run, five hits, one walk, and four strikeouts, though it was his 14th start of the season giving up three earned runs or less.
It was the first time this season the offense scored five runs for Keller while he was in the game.
“It was just a great game. Joey (Bart) did a great job on the plate, getting me through that first inning," Keller said. “It was a longer first. And then the guys were just banging today. It's fun to see, fun to play behind. It's just overall, great game for us.”
In those 15 starts, the team scored 17 runs with him on the mound. Before tonight, Keller had the worst run support in Major League Baseball with 2.11 runs per nine innings with teammates Andrew Heaney (2.61) and Paul Skenes (3.06) in fourth and sixth respectively.
Many times, Keller spoke about keeping focused on what he had to do on the mound. Tonight, pitching with a 4-0 lead brought a different approach, “Oh, yeah. I'm obviously still trying to get them out as quickly as possible, no matter what the score is, Keller said, “But yeah, having a little bit — you can be a little bit more, I don't know, not as cautious, I guess, would be the word. You can just kind of let your stuff work and if you give up a hit here and there, it's not the end of the world.”
After throwing 41 pitches in the first two innings, Keller threw 53 pitches through the rest of his outing, allowing this Juan Soto blast in the fourth:
Don Kelly on Keller receiving help from his teammates: “For Mitch, that was awesome. He did what he's done consistently throughout this year. Pitched really, really well against a really good team. To score some runs for him felt really good, and to get him the win was great.”
The offense stacked runners and extended innings with five walks and 12 hits -- five for extra bases -- as seven different hitters scored a run and six had an RBI.
From the hitter perspective, Andrew McCutchen said, “It don’t matter who it’s for. Obviously, for Mitch they’re going to pay more attention because of how it’s been for him but I’m just happy to be able to put runs on the board for anybody. We haven’t been able to do that consistently so it’s nice to put runs on the board, to continue to put runs on the board as the game continues and not just settle for the four, we got early and give those guys a little bit of breathing room.”
Tonight, five different players had two hits, and the four-run second inning started with a walk followed by three singles and a double before Tommy Pham’s RBI groundout on a fielder’s choice made it 4-0.
Pham continued his hot streak since June 20th adding a walk in the sixth and an RBI single in the seventh to up his batting average to .533 and eight RBIs over his last four games played.
The biggest hit of the night belonged to Bryan Reynolds in the sixth inning; he hammered this three-run home run to the top rows in right field over the Clemente Wall to put an exclamation point on the evening:
The Pirates' nine run outburst is the cushion needed from having the worst run scoring offense as their 276 runs on the season are nine better than the Royals.
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THE ASYLUM
Eric Bowser
4:44 am - 06.28.2025North ShoreKeller picks up second win ... 80 games later
Mitch Keller won his first start of the season, then went 15 starts before earning his second win of the season in the Pirates' 9-1 rout of the Mets at PNC Park tonight.
Keller’s line wasn't his best this season going 5 1/3 innings, one earned run, five hits, one walk, and four strikeouts, though it was his 14th start of the season giving up three earned runs or less.
It was the first time this season the offense scored five runs for Keller while he was in the game.
“It was just a great game. Joey (Bart) did a great job on the plate, getting me through that first inning," Keller said. “It was a longer first. And then the guys were just banging today. It's fun to see, fun to play behind. It's just overall, great game for us.”
In those 15 starts, the team scored 17 runs with him on the mound. Before tonight, Keller had the worst run support in Major League Baseball with 2.11 runs per nine innings with teammates Andrew Heaney (2.61) and Paul Skenes (3.06) in fourth and sixth respectively.
Many times, Keller spoke about keeping focused on what he had to do on the mound. Tonight, pitching with a 4-0 lead brought a different approach, “Oh, yeah. I'm obviously still trying to get them out as quickly as possible, no matter what the score is, Keller said, “But yeah, having a little bit — you can be a little bit more, I don't know, not as cautious, I guess, would be the word. You can just kind of let your stuff work and if you give up a hit here and there, it's not the end of the world.”
After throwing 41 pitches in the first two innings, Keller threw 53 pitches through the rest of his outing, allowing this Juan Soto blast in the fourth:
Don Kelly on Keller receiving help from his teammates: “For Mitch, that was awesome. He did what he's done consistently throughout this year. Pitched really, really well against a really good team. To score some runs for him felt really good, and to get him the win was great.”
The offense stacked runners and extended innings with five walks and 12 hits -- five for extra bases -- as seven different hitters scored a run and six had an RBI.
From the hitter perspective, Andrew McCutchen said, “It don’t matter who it’s for. Obviously, for Mitch they’re going to pay more attention because of how it’s been for him but I’m just happy to be able to put runs on the board for anybody. We haven’t been able to do that consistently so it’s nice to put runs on the board, to continue to put runs on the board as the game continues and not just settle for the four, we got early and give those guys a little bit of breathing room.”
Tonight, five different players had two hits, and the four-run second inning started with a walk followed by three singles and a double before Tommy Pham’s RBI groundout on a fielder’s choice made it 4-0.
Pham continued his hot streak since June 20th adding a walk in the sixth and an RBI single in the seventh to up his batting average to .533 and eight RBIs over his last four games played.
The biggest hit of the night belonged to Bryan Reynolds in the sixth inning; he hammered this three-run home run to the top rows in right field over the Clemente Wall to put an exclamation point on the evening:
The Pirates' nine run outburst is the cushion needed from having the worst run scoring offense as their 276 runs on the season are nine better than the Royals.
Want to participate in our comments?
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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