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AFL Recap: Mitch Keller Faces Minimum Over Five Dominating Innings

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Hours after being named to the Fall-Stars game, both Mitch Keller and Kevin Kramer were starting for the Glendale Desert Dogs on Monday afternoon. Keller was making his fourth start of the season, while Kramer was at shortstop for the tenth time this fall. Brandon Waddell would also make an appearance later in the game. Glendale dropped to 7-9 on Saturday after starting the season with a 5-1 record. That put them three games back of first place with 14 games left on the fall schedule. On Monday, they took on Scottsdale at home and won 3-2.

Keller had an easy first inning, retiring the side on ten pitches by getting two fly balls and a pop out to Kevin Kramer. He faced the minimum in the second, although he allowed a single to the second hitter. That runner was erased on a caught stealing. Keller retired the other two batters on a fly out and a grounder to third base, throwing 12 pitches in this frame.

The third inning was another quick frame for Keller. He got three grounders on eight pitches, with one going to Kramer and another right back to the mound. The fourth inning was his best, with two grounders, followed by his first strikeout, getting the final batter swinging on the tenth pitch of the inning.

Due to his low pitch count, Keller was able to come out for a fifth inning. He needed just four pitches to pick up his second strikeout. The next batter grounded out to Kramer for the second out. Two pitches later, and on his 49th pitch of the afternoon, Keller ended his day with a grounder to third base. He faced the minimum in five scoreless innings. After Keller left, the first two batters of the sixth inning reached on singles, giving Scottsdale more runners in the sixth than they had in the first five innings combined

Kevin Kramer batted second and lined out to shortstop in his first at-bat on Monday. He struck out in the third inning, then grounded out to second base during an eight-pitch at-bat in the fifth inning. Kramer grounded out to second base in the eighth, leaving him 0-for-4 on the night. He handled all five plays in the field.

Brandon Waddell came out for the save in the ninth, trying to hold a 3-1 lead. The lead-off batter singled on the first pitch he saw. Two pitches later, Waddell cleared the bases with a 6-4-3 double play started by Kramer. He got a fly ball to right field that should have ended the game, but it was misplayed for an error. That was followed by an RBI double, with the run being unearned. Waddell got a grounder to first base to end the game. Despite facing five batters, he needed just nine pitches to get through the inning, with eight going for strikes. He now has a 2.00 ERA in nine innings, with one walk and nine strikeouts.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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