The Pittsburgh Pirates followed one of their longest games with one that was short and sweet, thanks to a strong start by Mitch Keller. With the bullpen needing relief, the veteran right-hander went above and beyond.
Keller held the Tampa Bay Rays to two runs over seven innings and had five strikeouts without a walk to etch his name among the franchise’s all-time strikeout leaders.
Bryan Reynolds had three RBIs, and Spencer Horwitz and Nick Yorke each hit home runs as the Pirates pounded 12 hits to beat the Rays, 6-3, and win the three-game series Sunday afternoon before 13,439 at PNC Park.
The NL Central-leading Pirates (13-9) won four of seven games during the homestand, splitting a four-game series with the Washington Nationals and beating the Rays. The Pirates are off Monday, then begin a six-game road trip Tuesday with three games at the Texas Rangers and then three at the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend.
Keller’s performance came at the perfect time, as the Pirates used six relievers in an 8-7 loss in 13 innings Saturday night in a game that lasted 4 hours, 12 minutes and was interrupted by a 2-hour, 27-minute rain delay. Sunday’s game lasted 2 hours, 24 minutes.
“It was huge. Honestly, probably the biggest start of the year with where our bullpen was at,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “For him to be as strong as he was and get the ‘W’ for the team, it was unbelievable. Just the way he attacked the zone and mixed up pitches, he did a great job.”
Keller delivered his fourth quality start, this one coming after allowing five runs on six hits and four walks over four innings in a 5-4 loss to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.
“I felt really good,” Keller said. “I just wanted to bounce back from last time and be on the gas, be on the attack and try not to walk anybody, no free passes and just fill it up.”
Keller (2-1) needed two strikeouts to pass Rick Rhoden for 10th place on the Pirates’ all-time strikeout leaders. He allowed five hits without a walk in his most efficient start, throwing strikes on 58 of his 89 pitches and drawing 14 called strikes and a dozen whiffs.
“We needed that after last night,” Reynolds said. “He pitched really well and was really going right at their hitters. He was good.”
Keller surrendered a leadoff single to Chandler Simpson in the first inning, but the speedster was thrown out attempting to steal second base by catcher Joey Bart in a pivotal moment for the Pirates.
“Joey made a huge throw,” Keller said. “That guy is really fast. Part of the game plan is just keeping them at bay there. Hats off to Joey, he made a great throw.”
Jake Mangum led off by working a 10-pitch at-bat against Rays lefty Shane McClanahan (1-2) before slicing a double down the right-field line. Mangum advanced to second on a single by Nick Gonzales and scored when Reynolds grounded into forceout at second for a 1-0 lead.
Keller retired 13 consecutive batters before Richie Palacios doubled, Jonny DeLuca singled and Hunter Feduccia drove in both runners with a single to right field in the fifth inning as Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead.
The Pirates answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Bart hit a leadoff double off the left-center wall, advanced to third when Billy Cook laid down a bunt and beat Feduccia’s throw to first and scored on a Gonzales single to tie the score. Reynolds followed with a two-run single to give the Pirates a 4-2 lead.
“It was good to see he gave us a chance,” Bart said of Keller. “Luckily, the offense gave him a bit of breathing room. It seemed the more room we gave him, the more he took. Hats off to him for doing what he did. It was obviously huge for us to swing this one today.”
With two outs in the sixth, Horwitz hammered Mason Englert’s 2-1 changeup 383 feet into the right-field seats for the second pinch-hit home run of his career to give the Pirates a 5-2 lead.
Yorke led off the eighth with a solo shot of his own by driving lefty Ian Seymour’s 3-1 sinker 394 feet to left field for his first home run of the season to make it 6-2.
Isaac Mattson replaced Keller and pitched a clean eighth inning. The ninth marked the MLB debut of Wilber Dotel, who was selected from Triple-A Indianapolis to give a boost to a depleted bullpen.
What Keller started, Dotel finished — for the first time in his career.
The Pirates’ No. 12 prospect received a rude introduction when Junior Caminero sent his 1-1 slider 398 feet to left field for his fifth home run, but Dotel responded by striking out Jonathan Aranda, making a nice snag on a comebacker by Yandy Diaz and nearly hitting triple digits before getting Cedric Mullins to fly out to center to end the game.
“It’s not something that I’m thinking about before the game. I’m just going to try and pitch my game and whatever happens, happens,” Keller said of going seven innings. “I’m glad I could do that for us and our offense put us in a position where we didn’t have to use any of our back-end bullpen guys. Super happy for Dotel that he got to debut. Man, he’s electric, that was fun to see.”