When Mitch Keller turned around to see who was replacing him tonight with two runners on in the sixth inning of the Pirates' 9-1 rout of the Mets at PNC Park, he was happy to see Isaac Mattson.
"When I've got runners on base and he's coming in, I know I've got a pretty good chance of getting out of there," Keller said.
Mattson, 29, formerly a player at Pitt and a native of Erie, has inherited seven runners in 11 appearances and hasn't allowed one to score. That didn’t change as he allowed one hit and struck out three over 1 1/3 innings.
After struggling early in his career and playing two seasons of Independent ball, including one season with the Washington Wild Things, Mattson has put together a breakout season, producing a 1.84 ERA and 0.61 WHIP. He’s done so with an aggressive mentality.
"I feel like a lot of times in my career, when I’ve struggled, I've just gotten behind in counts and gotten into situations where hitters are comfortable," Mattson told me. "So, as long as I’m staying on the attack, I feel like I’m putting myself in a good spot."
Mattson has leaned on his fastball, as 45 of his last 52 pitches have been just that. He's allowed two hits, no runs and struck out six. He was aggressive tonight by throwing 15 of his 21 pitches for strikes.
Of the five hitters he faced, Mattson only got behind once. He missed with two fastballs to Jeff McNeil, his first batter, before throwing a third down the middle, inducing a flyout to left.
Mattson then threw five straight fastballs to Mark Vientos all over the zone before burning one right down the middle at 95.2 mph to keep Keller in line for the win.
"When he goes out there, that's him," Keller said. "I don't even know if we need to call anything other than his fastball right now. He's just got a stupid fastball that's missing bats."
Mattson locates his fastball all over, but elevates it to get hitters to chase. He's thrown it 70.3%, limiting hitters to a .125 batting average while producing a 38.5 strikeout rate and 27.6 whiff rate. It produces 19 inches of vertical break -- 3.1 above average -- and 8.3 inches of horizontal break to the arm side, which is 0.6 above average to comparable pitches.
"That's the one that guys go back to the dugout and be like, 'It looks great. I just can't hit it.' " Keller said.
• Tommy Pham went 1 for 4 with two RBIs and a walk. Over his last four games, he's hitting .533 with eight RBIs. He drove in Alexander Canario in the second with a fielder's choice and did it again in the seventh with this single up the middle:
• Ke'Bryan Hayes went 2 for 4 with an RBI double, single and a walk. He's now hitting .333 over his last seven games with four RBIs and two walks, but has struck out seven times.
• Génesis Cabrera made his Pirates debut, throwing 1 1/3 innings. He didn't allow a hit, struck out one and topped out at 97 mph.
"He looked good, especially for not pitching for a while," Don Kelly said. "He’s been down in that limbo for a while. Sometimes that can get tough, especially the first outing with a new team and not pitching for a while. We liked what we saw out there.”
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THE ASYLUM
Greg Macafee
3:31 am - 06.28.2025NORTH SHOREMattson 'staying on the attack'
When Mitch Keller turned around to see who was replacing him tonight with two runners on in the sixth inning of the Pirates' 9-1 rout of the Mets at PNC Park, he was happy to see Isaac Mattson.
"When I've got runners on base and he's coming in, I know I've got a pretty good chance of getting out of there," Keller said.
Mattson, 29, formerly a player at Pitt and a native of Erie, has inherited seven runners in 11 appearances and hasn't allowed one to score. That didn’t change as he allowed one hit and struck out three over 1 1/3 innings.
After struggling early in his career and playing two seasons of Independent ball, including one season with the Washington Wild Things, Mattson has put together a breakout season, producing a 1.84 ERA and 0.61 WHIP. He’s done so with an aggressive mentality.
"I feel like a lot of times in my career, when I’ve struggled, I've just gotten behind in counts and gotten into situations where hitters are comfortable," Mattson told me. "So, as long as I’m staying on the attack, I feel like I’m putting myself in a good spot."
Mattson has leaned on his fastball, as 45 of his last 52 pitches have been just that. He's allowed two hits, no runs and struck out six. He was aggressive tonight by throwing 15 of his 21 pitches for strikes.
Of the five hitters he faced, Mattson only got behind once. He missed with two fastballs to Jeff McNeil, his first batter, before throwing a third down the middle, inducing a flyout to left.
Mattson then threw five straight fastballs to Mark Vientos all over the zone before burning one right down the middle at 95.2 mph to keep Keller in line for the win.
"When he goes out there, that's him," Keller said. "I don't even know if we need to call anything other than his fastball right now. He's just got a stupid fastball that's missing bats."
Mattson locates his fastball all over, but elevates it to get hitters to chase. He's thrown it 70.3%, limiting hitters to a .125 batting average while producing a 38.5 strikeout rate and 27.6 whiff rate. It produces 19 inches of vertical break -- 3.1 above average -- and 8.3 inches of horizontal break to the arm side, which is 0.6 above average to comparable pitches.
"That's the one that guys go back to the dugout and be like, 'It looks great. I just can't hit it.' " Keller said.
• Tommy Pham went 1 for 4 with two RBIs and a walk. Over his last four games, he's hitting .533 with eight RBIs. He drove in Alexander Canario in the second with a fielder's choice and did it again in the seventh with this single up the middle:
• Ke'Bryan Hayes went 2 for 4 with an RBI double, single and a walk. He's now hitting .333 over his last seven games with four RBIs and two walks, but has struck out seven times.
• Génesis Cabrera made his Pirates debut, throwing 1 1/3 innings. He didn't allow a hit, struck out one and topped out at 97 mph.
"He looked good, especially for not pitching for a while," Don Kelly said. "He’s been down in that limbo for a while. Sometimes that can get tough, especially the first outing with a new team and not pitching for a while. We liked what we saw out there.”
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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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