Keller, HRs lift Bucs to 2nd shutout, sweep

PITTSBURGH -- A lot of things happened for the Pirates in the past few games that haven’t happened for them all season long.

The Pirates shut out the Rockies in both games of the doubleheader on Saturday at PNC Park, the latter coming in a 4-0 victory over Colorado. It marked the team’s first series win since April 23-25 in Minnesota.

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JT Brubaker began the day by throwing six scoreless innings before Chasen Shreve shut the door in a 7-0 win in Game 1. Then, Mitch Keller posted five zeros as he afforded the Rockies only two hits and two walks.

“We take pride in throwing up zeros, any way it can happen,” Keller said. “We’re proud of ourselves for throwing up a zero. Then, 14 straight innings of that is awesome.”

Keller has had a rocky 2021 season, as there is a continuing theme of one good start, one rough start. But when he’s been good, he’s often been dominant. The right-hander is one of only three Pirates starters to throw a scoreless outing this season, next to Miguel Yajure on May 14 and JT Brubaker in Game 1. Yet only Keller has two such outings.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Keller said of the up-and-down trend. “How can I not? But I’m not even thinking about that. Come game time, it’s go time.”

The last time the Pirates shut out a team in both games of a doubleheader was Oct. 3, 1976, in a pair of 1-0 wins over the Cardinals to end the season.

Pittsburgh’s offense, on the other hand, was far from shut out, scoring 11 runs on Saturday in 14 innings. Part of that equation has been due to a rise in the home run ball in the past three games.

The Pirates slugged three home runs on Thursday vs. the Cubs, one in Game 1 on Saturday and two in Game 2. It’s the first time this season they’ve hit six in a three-game span -- and they had two fewer innings to accomplish that in two of the games.

Bryan Reynolds hit a home run in his second consecutive contest in Game 1. Adam Frazier moved into a tie for second place for leadoff homers in franchise history, hitting his 10th on the first pitch Rockies starter Austin Gomber threw in Game 2. Then, Ka’ai Tom, who was activated from the injured list as the 27th man, hit a “two iron” shot to right-center field on his 27th birthday.

“We just have to stick to driving the ball gap to gap,” Frazier said. “Lately, I think we've gotten some pitches to drive, and they’ve cleared the wall. Hopefully, we can keep the streak going, or whatever we've got going, and put some good swings on balls and do some damage, because that's a recipe to winning ball games."

To round out all the unusual feats for the Pirates on Saturday, Jacob Stallings hustled for the first triple of his MLB career in the sixth inning of Game 2. Stallings, whose 23.4 ft./sec. sprint speed is the fifth-slowest among qualified baserunners in the Majors, also stole third base in a game in Spring Training; he hasn’t stolen a bag in a regular-season game since 2016.

“He’s got a bag and a triple this year,” Shelton said. “I would have put money against both of those if we were betting at the beginning of the year.”

“Just glad he made it, because he was running out of gas there and still breathing hard when he got in there,” Frazier said.

However, those kinds of things bring a much needed spark to a team which entered the day on a six-game losing streak with nine of the last 10 decisions dropped. Stallings’ triple set him up to score on a bloop single, which gave David Bednar extra cushion when he allowed two runners to reach in the top of the seventh.

After a few close losses and a blunder, the Pirates feel like they’re putting the past behind them and going into attack mode, which paid off in the dominant doubleheader.

“It definitely gives the team some momentum,” Keller said. “JT threw the ball really well. We hit the ball really well today. … We’re having fun.”