Takeaways: Clutch offense, Mitch Keller's adjustment and more help Pirates take series

PHOENIX — A first-inning home run from Brandon Lowe. A Pirates pitcher delivering a quality start. And the bullpen holding the line, punctuated by a Gregory Soto save.

That strategy worked perfectly Wednesday, and it was apparently so much fun the Pirates decided to repeat it less than 24 hours later. The result was a 4-2 victory over the Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Thursday afternoon, enabling Pittsburgh to also claim the series.

Mitch Keller wasn’t quite Paul Skenes. But he was really good, allowing two earned runs on four hits with two walks over six innings. Keller, who has delivered quality starts in six of his eight outings this year, struck out four.

Lowe followed his home run with two more hits and now has a .941 OPS. Joey Bart also went deep for the Pirates, who won their third consecutive season series against Arizona. This year, the Pirates have now won four consecutive road series against National League clubs.

“We keep showing [fight] every time out,” Keller said. “That same mentality, today’s a new day, and nobody cares what happened yesterday. Let’s win today.”

The day after Skenes dominated with eight shutout frames, the first inning definitely took on a familiar feel. Lowe, who began Thursday’s game with the fourth-most RBIs (22) by a second baseman in either league, crushed a first-pitch fastball left middle-middle.

After hitting a 435-foot homer Wednesday, this one traveled an estimated 436. Exit velocity of 111.1. The team-high 10th of the season was a bomb for Lowe.

The lead didn’t last, however.

In the bottom half, Keller walked the leadoff man (shortstop Geraldo Perdomo). He scored on designated hitter Adrian Del Castillo’s single two-out single.

Keller threw a fastball down and in to the lefty.It looked like Bart might’ve wanted it higher. Del Castillo smoked it at 106.2 mph for a 1-1 tie. More on that shortly.

But the Pirates getting some early offense lessened the sting of Castillo’s hit.

“It absolutely energizes everybody in the dugout,” Lowe said of getting early homers. “Not even just the hitters. But our pitcher gets to go out there with a lead. Mitch gives up that run in the first inning, but you’re not down after something like that. You’re playing with house money for a little bit there.”

Arizona grabbed a 2-1 lead two innings later when right fielder Corbin Carroll did what only one other hitter has accomplished this season: He hit a home run off Keller.

As a team, the Pirates were tied for the fewest allowed in MLB prior to the game (29 now). Keller’s four-seamer has also been nearly impossible for hitters to square up so far this season.

Carroll accomplished that, taking the pitch 406 to right-center.

The Keller adjustment

The outing from Keller could’ve been cut in half: three innings where his command lacked, then three where Bart helped him find something.

Bart said he “challenged” Keller. Pressed for what he said, Bart smiled. “I told him, ‘Let’s go. Let’s do better.’ In a nice way. I just kind of challenged him a little bit.”

Baseball-wise, Bart began calling different pitches to get ahead early, a lot of cutters, sinkers and sliders. It worked. After Carroll’s homer, Keller set down the next 10.

“A lot of thanks to Joey on that one, and our defense made a lot of great plays,” Keller said. “They got me out of some crap. It turned out to be a good one, but it didn’t start good.”

Impressive fifth

The Pirates answered two innings later, scoring twice in the top of the fifth with a two-out rally.

Ryan O’Hearn drove in the first of two runs by going down to get an inside slider. Spencer Horwitz extended the lead to 3-2 on a four-seamer at the bottom of the zone.

The two-out rally turned out to be an important moment of the game, as Keller and the bullpen shut things down from there.

“Two-strike hitting, just the way we need to play,” Kelly said. “When we're going well offensively, we're able to slow everything down, go gap-to-gap, pass the baton. That timely hitting is a big key for us as we go through the rest of the season.”

Catching up

An interesting storyline with this series has been the Pirates’ deployment of catchers. Henry Davis caught Skenes Wednesday, but Bart enjoyed the other two starts. Maybe it was a lefty Tuesday and Thursday being a day game after a night game.

Either way, Bart didn’t hurt his cause by producing multiple hits for the second time in his past four starts, including a solo home run in the sixth.

Bart connected on a slider middle-away and crushed it over the left-field fence at 109.5 mph.

“Just trying to go up there and get a good swing off,” Bart said. “I have a history of playing here and facing these guys a lot. I have an idea of what they try to do. Coming in and being aggressive, being ready to hit is always best for me. Going out there and trying to hit it hard.”

Bullpen tweaks

While Dennis Santana began the as the Pirates’ closer or at least their most valued reliever, his 4.02 ERA entering Thursday’s game apparently led manager Don Kelly to use Santana differently.

Kelly had Santana reliever Keller in the seventh — and it worked. Santana got third baseman Jose Fernandez to bounce into a double play, then worked around a walk to Jorge Barrosa.

Mason Montgomery, Isaac Mattson and Gregory Soto finished off the game.

Around the horn

Konnor Griffin went 0 for 4 and saw his eight-game hitting streak come to a close. … Jake Mangum was a late scratch with left hamstring discomfort. Billy Cook replaced him. … Also before the game, the Pirates announced Chris Devenski will go on the 15-day injured list with an undisclosed illness. Cam Sanders, who was on the taxi squad, was recalled to take his spot.

Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH.