So far through three starts, Mitch Keller is showing that last year may not have been a fluke. After a shaky season opening start, he has put together back-to-back strong starts. It didn’t necessarily appear that way, as Keller gave up a solo home run in each of the first two innings for a 2-0 deficit.
In the bottom half of the second inning, Jack Suwinski finally did what he did best in 2022, and took a 92 MPH fastball up in the zone and sent it 399 feet into right field for a game tying two-run home run. It was the sophomore outfielder’s first home run of the season.
From there, Keller settled in and went to work against the Houston Astros. He’d end up going six innings with only the two runs against while giving up six hits and two walks, to go with seven strike outs.
Keller has been getting a lot of attention towards his sinker usage since last year, but in this game, it was his new sweeper that he used for 26 of his 94 pitches (28%). The sinker came in tied for fourth with his curveball, thrown 15 times (16%) each. Keller ended up throwing six different pitches in the game: sweeper, cutter (19%), 4-seam fastball (19%), curveball, sinker, and changeup (2%).
With the game tied, off-season acquisition Ji Man Choi didn’t want Mitch to leave empty handed, and blasted his second home run in consecutive days for a 3-2 lead. It flew off the bat 110 MPH and went 418 FT. The offense didn’t stop there, as Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a one-out double, stole third base and then scored on a Canaan Smith-Njiba sacrifice fly to make it 4-2.
Both bullpens combined for scoreless seventh and eighth innings, with Duane Underwood Jr. throwing a quick seventh on 11 pitches and no baserunners, and Colin Holderman allowing one hit to one strike out on sixteen pitches.
The ninth inning is where things once again got interesting. David Bednar entered the game to try and capture his fifth save on the young season, and Mitch Keller’s second victory. After getting the first batter of the ninth to fly out, Bednar induced a ground ball that first-man-up-for-SS Rodolfo Castro committed a throwing error on. That was then followed by a single and a double that knotted the game up at four with one out. Fortunately Bednar worked his way through the rest of the inning to keep the game tied.
On came Astros’ reliever Ryan Pressly to face the Pirates seven, eight and nine hitters. Castro lead off the inning with a single just after his top half throwing error. With one out Derek Shelton pinch hit Andrew McCutchen for Jason Delay, and rewarded the move with a single of his own to put runners on first and second with one out.
This brought up Pirates strongman, Ji Hwan Bae. Bae has been having quite a knack for the theatrics this season. With his impressive, some would say miraculous, catch against the Boston Green Monster, he came through in a big way against the Astros. On 2-2 changeup, Bae connected on the Pirates third home run of the evening to the right field stands for a walk-off three-run home run. It was his second home run of the season, and the Pirates were able to take the second of three, 7-4.
