Mitch Keller flashed his potential at PNC Park Friday night, delivering the most impressive start of his young major-league career in setting the stage for a 3-2 walkoff win over the Reds.
And the pitching line — six-plus innings, one run, six hits, a walk and a career-high nine strikeouts — only partially conveys how much he frustrated hitters: He got 19 swings and misses, second-most by anyone for the Pirates this year, behind only Jordan Lyles' 21-whiff performance May 17.
"He was phenomenal all night," his catcher, Jacob Stallings, was telling me after the game at his locker.
“I felt really good," Keller would independently affirm. "Good work week leading up into this start, so I felt really confident going out there, and everything was working.”
"Everything" included both breaking pitches, with 28 sliders and 13 curves counted among his 90 total pitches. The Reds swung through the breaking stuff 13 times and took eight for called strikes, resulting in eight of his nine strikeouts.
Take a look at Keller's work for yourself:
Keller's first few starts in the majors had a fastball pitch mix, but he has moved to his secondary stuff more lately, showing the development necessary to take that next step.
"I tried to use it against the Cubs last start, but it just wasn’t there," Keller said, referring to his slider Aug. 18. "I just got back at it, got back to work on it, and it felt really good tonight.”
"I thought he just had better finish on it," Stallings said. "He just had better extension."
Keller's two breaking balls move in different ways. While the slider has late run, the curveball just drops, meaning the two can play off each other.
"When he can have both of those pitches going, it makes him really hard to hit," Stallings said. "It just gives the hitter another thing to worry about. If they can only sit on a curveball or slider because they know one's not on, then it makes it a little easier. Still pretty good pitches, but when he has both of them going, he's usually pretty good."
Friday marked Keller's deepest start, as well as his first official quality start.
"It’s definitely a confidence booster," Keller said. "You just feel good, and the team wins, I mean … It’s great.”
• Keller needed an assist to finish his night, and Michael Feliz delivered. Entering with runners on the corners and nobody out, Feliz struck out three consecutive Reds to keep the game 1-1 in the seventh:
“There was nothing to not like about Feliz in that situation," Clint Hurdle said. "Michael has come on strong for us the last couple months. The fastball’s eating at the top of the zone. The slider’s a real pitch for him now for strikes and for chase, for swing and deception. They’ve gotta cheat to get to the fastball, then he can spin the breaking ball. And the way he was able to attack there, looked like he had done it a number of times. He’s just gotten better as the season’s gone on."
Feliz said he was happy he could close the book on Keller:
Let's check in with the beneficiary:
“It was awesome, especially when you got two inherited runners and nobody out, runners on first and (third), I mean, that’s a huge situation," Keller said of Feliz. "He came out, peppering fastballs, and his slider, I mean, was devastating them. Three punchouts in a row. You can’t ask for anything more.”
• Trailing 2-1 in the ninth, the Pirates strung together three consecutive singles off Cincinnati closer Raisel Iglesias to open the inning, with Adam Frazier's bloop base hit bringing home tying run Erik Gonzalez.
After a Stallings bunt, pinch-hitter Pablo Reyes hit a deep single into the left-center notch, flying well above the heads of a drawn-in outfield:
Kevin Newman, who was on-deck and is fresh off a walkoff hit against the Cubs last Friday, offered some advice for Reyes before he stepped into the box:
• Back to Keller: He threw a first-pitch strike to 20 of the 24 batters he faced, including each of the final 13.
“I mean, that’s just the name of the game," Keller said on the subject. "Once you get ahead, statistically, batting averages go way down, so that’s just how I pitch and that’s how I’ve always pitched. So just making sure I was nailing that today, and it really proved to be helpful for me.”
• Final note on Keller: He shook off Stallings just once.
"I think at this point of his career, it's probably best for him to be able to focus on executing a pitch," Stallings said. "Luckily, we were on the same page most of the night."
• Aristides Aquino was the thorn in the Pirates' pitching's side, going 3 for 4 with a home run and a go-ahead RBI double in the eighth.
In case you have not been keeping up with the Reds' rookie, he is now slashing .338/.405/.873 with 12 home runs and 25 RBI. He was promoted to the majors Aug. 1.
"He hadn’t got a hit off me, and he just comes up here and is raking," Keller said, referring to matchups they had in the minors. "He hit two of my mistake pitches, so hats off to him. He’s hitting mistakes. I just gotta be better and not let them be mistakes next time.”
“We talked about not leaving breaking balls, spin pitches in the zone. We left three in the zone," Hurdle added. "You tip your hat to him, because he hit all three of them. So, we’ll try to find a way to pitch him better as the series continues.”
• Did anybody else at the ballpark have a Trevor Hoffman flashback? Felipe Vazquez paid homage to the Hall of Fame closer by entering the ninth inning to "Hell's Bells." He is going to stick with the AC/DC classic through Players Weekend.
• Neither manager had much to say about the bad blood between the teams before the game, and both teams played nice Friday night. No hit batters, no hitters jumping out of the way of pitches. Just a good, clean ballgame.
• The Pirates improve to 9-30 since the All-Star break. Hey, it's better than 8-31.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• Scoreboard
• Standings
THE INJURIES
• Clay Holmes (10-day IL, quadriceps)
• Gregory Polanco (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Lonnie Chisenhall (60-day IL, calf)
Here's the most recent full report.
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates return tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. against the Reds. Trevor Williams (5-6, 5.65 ERA) will get the ball against lefty Alex Wood (1-2, 5.92 ERA). I'll be back at the yard, flying solo this time with remote support from both Dejan Kovacevic and Hunter Homistek.
THE COVERAGE
All our baseball content, including Mound Visit by Jason Rollison, Indy Watch by Matt Welch, and Altoona Watch by Jarrod Prugar, can be found on our Pirates page.
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