PITTSBURGH -- There've been a lot of eyes early in the season on Pittsburgh’s talented cohort of up-and-coming homegrown pitchers. And rightfully so.
That still shouldn't overshadow the recent results of Mitch Keller, the well-established 2014 MLB Draft pick who turned 30 years old on Saturday. The right-hander is off to the best start of his eight-year career, and he turned in his third quality start of the season in the Pirates’ 8-2 loss to the Padres on Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park.
Keller dealt six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk. With four strikeouts, he overtook Sam Leever for 12th all-time in Pirates’ history.
“I feel really good. It was a quick one,” Keller said. “It felt like [I was pitching] quick innings there, pitch count was down. That's the goal every time to be efficient and just to give yourself the opportunity to go seven, eight, or whatever it may be here later in the season.”
Keller was sharp right out of the gate, breezing through his first four innings on just 38 pitches, with his only hit during that span being a leadoff double in the second inning by Gavin Sheets. Keller allowed a one-out base hit and a walk in the fifth, but he bounced back with a strikeout and a soft flyout. He ran into trouble again in the sixth, allowing a leadoff single to Fernando Tatis Jr., who stole second and third base, but Keller escaped trouble before things escalated.
Keller was pulled in between innings.
Reliever Justin Lawrence entered in his place, and he was charged with three earned runs in a four-run seventh inning by the Padres. The Pirates struck for a pair of runs of their own in the bottom half of the seventh to cut their deficit to 4-2, but San Diego blew it open in the top of the ninth inning via three hits and a pair of errors to put the rubber game away.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously, we want to win the game,” Keller said. "It was a close game the whole time. It was a battle. I feel good. Last three starts have been good. Just trying to keep it going, be consistent. Just keep [on] keeping us in the game.”
It was the second consecutive day that a Pirates quality start was cut short due to a pitch count, following Paul Skenes’ Tuesday outing. Bucs skipper Don Kelly pointed to it being Keller’s first time pitching on regular days' rest, as well as him sitting at 75 pitches and near the predetermined pitch count of 85, as reasons for his exit.
“I thought Mitch threw the ball extremely well,” Kelly said. “He was really efficient early on, and kept them off balance with a bunch of pitches. He was in the zone with his fastball, and mixing in the changeup, as well. It was pretty effective.”
Keller has now allowed just two earned runs in his first 18 innings this season, whittling his ERA down to just 1.00. That puts him in the 95th percentile in fastball run value (3), and the 91st percentile in pitching run value (3), per Baseball Savant.
“I’m not really looking at pitch count or anything like that ... when they tell me my day is done, I’m done,” Keller said. “Just the time I'm out there, I give it everything I can.”
Aided by a rotation crafted completely by organization-drafted talents in Skenes, Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft and Carmen Mlodzinski, the Pirates finished their first homestand with the ninth-lowest ERA in MLB (3.33), while ranking fifth in strikeouts (120). A big piece of that has been Keller, who now has 17 scoreless starts of six-plus innings as a Pirate, fifth most in franchise history (since the mound was lowered in 1969).
“Really good series, really good home opener for us,” Keller said. “I think we should feel really good where we’re at. Obviously, we don't want to lose any game, but it's going to happen, so we just have to look past it and get ready for the Cubs. It’s a big series for us, and lets do some damage there.”