MIAMI -- Mitch Keller felt a sense of relief. At long last, he had finally captured one of his white whales.
In the 54th start of his Major League career, Keller completed seven innings for the first time in the Pirates’ 5-1 win over the Marlins on Monday night at loanDepot park, allowing one run with five strikeouts and no walks. Keller had knocked on the door of the achievement throughout his four seasons, but he finally burst that door down.
"It feels really good,” Keller said. “They let me go back out there in the seventh, and the only thing on my mind was getting through that, no matter what. That's what starting pitchers want to do. [They] want to go as deep as they can into games. I'm glad I was able to go seven for us tonight."
Prior to the series opener vs. Miami, Keller had pitched in the seventh inning just one time in his Major League career. In that start, which came on Aug. 23, 2019, he didn’t record a single out, allowing a double and a single before he was pulled. On Monday, Keller didn’t let his second opportunity go by the wayside.
The right-hander entered the bottom of the seventh inning at 85 pitches. Interestingly enough, Keller was in the same situation several months prior, having thrown 85 pitches through six innings against the Padres on May 1. On that night, he was pulled. On this night, Keller was sent out for one more frame.
If Keller, who noted he was unsure if he was going to get the chance to pitch the seventh, was going to get through the frame, he was going to have to be efficient. Efficient he was. He struck out Brian Anderson on three pitches, then got Bryan De La Cruz to ground out after four more. On his first offering to Miguel Rojas, he induced an inning-ending groundout. He’d ended the night on his own terms.
“It's nice to see,” said manager Derek Shelton. “We talk about taking steps and checking boxes, and he definitely did that tonight.”
Of note, Keller’s velocity was noticeably down across the board. His fastball and sinker were 1.7 and 1.4 mph slower, respectively, than his season averages. Keller’s curveball was also 2.3 mph softer than average. Most notably, his slider was a whopping 4.2 mph slower than average. A drastic drop in velocity is typically reason for concern, but this was not the case with Keller.
Keller said he felt good coming out of the start and that he wasn’t worried about the dip in velocity on his four-seamer and sinker. Regarding the slider, which he threw most frequently, Keller attributed his work between starts, noting he wanted to throw his slider more consistently in the strike zone as opposed to making the pitch “as nasty as possible.” That Keller was able to shove without his nastiest stuff serves as a source of confidence in and of itself.
“A comment I made to [pitching coach] Oscar [Marin] and [game planning and strategy coach] Radley [Haddad] was I wish I had my best stuff tonight, because who knows what could’ve happened,” Keller said.
Added Jake Marisnick: “It was unbelievable. I was watching from center field and his slider was disgusting tonight. He was locating well. He was working the corners. It was fun to watch. He makes it easy on us.”
Keller was just one of several Pirates who played well in what was a solid all-around win. Kevin Newman not only had three hits, but had a diving play in the fourth inning to take away a hit. Marisnick reached base three times, hit a two-run home run and stole a bag in his first Major League game since May 9. Yerry De Los Santos shut the door with a four-out save, his third of the season. The evening, though, belonged to Keller.
For Keller, who will likely have one more start before the All-Star break, this hasn’t been the breakout first half that he and many others envisioned, but on the whole, he’s continued to trend in the right direction. Since introducing his sinker in mid-May, Keller has a 3.75 ERA across 50 1/3 innings. He’s been able to withstand the ebb and flow of outings. This was arguably the best start of Keller’s career, and considering how he’s looked, there might be more in store.