Mitch Keller didn't have his fastball in the first inning of the Pirates' 7-1 loss to the Reds tonight at PNC Park. 

He was simply missing with it all over the zone: 

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The Reds took advantage as Austin Hays doubled in Elly De La Cruz, who walked on five pitches, to take an early 1-0 lead. However, Keller adjusted when he came out for the second inning. 

"Just using the warmup pitches to find a release point for the fastball," Keller said. "That was the main thing. I don’t remember the exact batter, but the first batter there leading off the second inning. Got the two-seam working, got the feel for it again and we did that. That was kind of the adjustment.”

Keller threw back-to-back two-seam fastballs to Spencer Steer in the second and got ahead 0-2 before Steer singled to center field on a four-seamer. Keller then struck out Will Benson on three straight four-seam fastballs. The final one hit 96.9 mph. 

Keller settled in and scattered six hits, two runs, one earned and one walk over six innings, striking out five while throwing 91 pitches, 59 strikes. Keller threw 27 four-seamers and 22 two-seamers, with 11 put in play and 11 fouled off. It was Keller's seventh quality start but he was credited for the loss after the Reds took advantage of two defensive mistakes in his final inning. 

"He did pretty well. Kind of sprayed it early on," Don Kelly said. "The command in the first inning wasn't really there but he was able to settle down and make some pitches when he had to. Really, his velo ticked back up to 97 at times, he put some guys away and after that first inning, settled down, got in the zone and got his game back."

Keller is now 1-6 on the season, but he's produced a 3.88 ERA through 10 starts. Most of his starts have come on night's like this where the offense provides minimal support. They've scored four or fewer runs in 24 straight games and are scoring 2.21 runs per game. However, as Keller has said, he's maintained           focus on what he can control. 

"Obviously we know we are struggling," Keller said. "We just got to keep us in the game because you never know when we are going to pop. That’s our mentality, just keep us in the game and eventually we are going to pop off here.”

• The offense produced just five hits tonight. It was the seventh straight game they've recorded fewer than 10 hits and have scored 14 runs in that span. 

• David Bednar and Colin Holderman worked two innings, giving up six hits, five earned runs and two walks. The Pirates' bullpen ranks 23rd in Major League Baseball in ERA (4.61). 

• The last time the Pirates were 15-33 was 2006 and is a better record than only 2020 (14-34) and 1952 (11-37).