Mitch Keller had been the model of consistency for the Pittsburgh Pirates with three consecutive quality starts, but the veteran right-hander had command issues from the first batter Tuesday night and the Washington Nationals took advantage to build a three-run lead in the first inning.
The Pirates battled back to within one run, but a strategic decision by manager Don Kelly backfired when he took the bat out of the hands of their hottest hitter by pinch-hitting for Brandon Lowe with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh inning.
The Nationals escaped that jam by turning a double play, then withstood a ninth-inning rally to beat the Pirates, 5-4, before 9,423 at PNC Park to even the four-game series.
Lowe was 1 for 19 against left-handed pitchers entering the game before hitting a solo home run off Nationals opener PJ Poulin in the first inning, giving him four homers and 11 RBIs in a three-game span.
With a lefty on the mound in Mitchell Parker and another in the bullpen in Cionel Perez, Kelly opted to pinch-hit for the left-handed Lowe only for righty Nick Yorke to hit a 101.7-mph exit velocity grounder directly to second baseman Nasim Nunez for an inning-ending double play.
“It’s a tough decision,” Kelly said. “I always like to make it about the guy. We’ve talked about, as a team, it’s going to take 26 guys. I know Lowe had the home run earlier in the game against lefties. Just liked the matchup with Yorke there as far as putting the ball in play and making contact, and he did. He smoked it, unfortunately right at the second baseman.”
Despite having a hot bat, Lowe didn’t second-guess the decision.
“I mean, I thought it was the right move to be truly honest,” Lowe said. “Take the personal opinion out of it and look at it with a baseball mind. I mean, it was bases loaded, one out, lefty on the mound, lefty in the ‘pen and you go to a guy who sees lefties really well, doesn’t strike out against them, tying run on third base. I had no problem with it. I had full confidence that Nick was going to get the job done. I think if the ball is three feet one way or the other way, we’re having a completely different discussion about this.”
The Pirates got into an early deficit, as Keller (1-1) allowed five runs on six hits and four walks in four innings. He struggled from the start, walking Wood then Luis Garcia Jr. on a full count. Wood stole third base and scored on Brady House’s single to center for a 1-0 lead. Daylen Lile followed with another single to center to drive in Garcia, and CJ Abrams singled to left-center to score House for a 3-0 lead.
“With Mitch, from the beginning, didn’t have the sharp command, but battled and grinded and got through four innings,” Kelly said. “You could tell from the beginning he wasn’t as sharp as he’s been.”
Keller was at 26 pitches before he recorded an out, when he spun and picked off Lile with a throw to second baseman Lowe. Then he got Jacob Young swinging at a full-count fastball, and catcher Joey Bart threw out Abrams attempting to steal second base to end the frame.
“If you don’t get that out, you never know what happens,” Keller said. “Could have been a longer inning. Maybe not make it out of the inning. Who knows? Huge to get out of that.”
Lowe then took Poulin deep, driving his full-count sweeper 376 feet to right field for a solo shot and his seventh home run of the season to cut it to 3-1. It was the fourth homer in three games for Lowe, who hit two Sunday at the Chicago Cubs and one Monday against the Nationals in back-to-back five-RBI performances.
Lowe became only the third Pirates player with four or more homers and 11 or more RBIs in a three-game span. Ralph Kiner did it twice, going for six homers and 12 RBIs from Aug. 14-16, 1947 and five homers and 13 RBIs from Sept. 11-14, 1949. Lowe matched Jose Castillo, who hit four homers and 11 RBIs from May 29-31, 2006.
Abrams ended Keller’s streak of three consecutive quality starts by sending a 1-1 sweeper 389 feet to right field for his sixth home run with two outs in the third inning to give the Nationals a 4-1 lead. The Nationals added another in the fourth, when House hit a two-out single to right to score Nasim Nunez from second base to make it 5-1.
The Pirates rallied for two runs in the fourth. After Lowe drew a leadoff walk and Bryan Reynolds won an ABS challenge for a free base, Marcell Ozuna doubled to left to drive in Lowe. Reynolds scored on a groundout to second by Nick Gonzales to cut it to 5-3.
Bart homered for the first time this season in the fifth, hitting an 0-1 sweeper 383 feet to left field for a solo shot that cut the Pirates’ deficit to one run.
The Pirates loaded the bases against Parker in the seventh, thanks to singles by Jake Mangum and Konnor Griffin and a throwing error by first baseman Curtis Mead on Oneil Cruz’s grounder that pulled Nunez off the bag at second. But Perez escaped the jam and protected the one-run lead by getting Yorke to hit a 3-1 curveball into the double play.
“You can’t really ask too much out of the guy,” Lowe said of Yorke, who has a career .238 batting average (10 for 42) against lefties. “He comes in, gets himself into a good count, hits the balls on the screws. It just goes right to the second baseman. We’re in a result-based game, which is an unfortunate part of the game, but the process was right. I stand behind that decision.”
Kelly was impressed with how Lowe handled the move, noting that he gave Yorke a high five and talked to him before the at-bat.
“He’s such a pro,” Kelly said. “You know that he would want that at-bat, too. Unfortunately, the ball Yorke hit was right at (Nunez).”
The Nationals had a chance to increase their advantage in the eighth, when Abrams doubled and attempted to score on a pinch-hit single by Jose Tena to left field. But the Pirates made a big play when Mangum fielded the ball on a bounce then fired it to Bart, who deked Abrams, caught the ball and tagged him out as he slid into home plate.
“It was perfect,” Mangum said of Bart. “He did it exactly what he needs to do in that situation. He was ready for it, deked the tag, applied the tag perfect. Luckily, we were able to keep the game at that score.”
Washington challenged the call, but after video review it was determined that Bart was not in violation of blocking the plate and home plate umpire John Libka’s call was upheld. After Ryan O’Hearn drew a four-pitch walk in the eighth, the Nationals turned to righty Clayton Beeter only for Ozuna to hit a line drive to left that Lile robbed of a hit.
Griffin doubled off the Clemente Wall with one out in the ninth to put the tying run in scoring position and Bart worked a full-count walk. Billy Cook pinch-ran for Bart, but Cruz went down swinging and Yorke popped out in foul territory to first base to end the game.
“Man, shoutout to the team,” Keller said. “Came back, was within striking distance down to the final out. Just shows the character of this team. We’re in it until the final out.”