The Pittsburgh Pirates were aiming for a series win in Thursday afternoon’s rubber match at the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Having been blown out and blanked in Tuesday’s opener at Chase Field, the Pirates got a masterful performance from Paul Skenes on Wednesday in a 1-0 victory.
Behind six strong innings and his sixth quality start of the season, Mitch Keller helped the Pirates to a 4-2 victory in the series finale.
Keller (4-1, 2.87 ERA) allowed two runs on four hits with a pair of walks and four strikeouts, throwing 50 of his 84 pitches for strikes.
“I’ve been saying it all year: We have all the fight in the world on this team, so one game is not going to knock us down,” Keller said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “I think we’re going to keep showing that every time out. Just the same mentality: Today’s a new day. Nobody cares what happened yesterday. Let’s win today.”
Brandon Lowe went 3 for 5 with a home run, and Joey Bart went 2 for 4 and also homered.
Gregory Soto earned a save for the second straight game, giving him three on the season.
With one out in the top of the first, Lowe crushed the first pitch he saw from Zac Gallen 436 feet to right field for his team-leading 10th home run of the season, handing the Pirates (21-17) an early 1-0 lead.
The first-year Pirate added two singles and scored two runs.
“It’s unbelievable,” manager Don Kelly said of Lowe. “It’s really impressive the way that he’s able to power the baseball.”
The Diamondbacks (17-19) answered quickly, tying the score in the bottom of the first.
Keller walked Geraldo Perdomo to lead off the inning, and Adrian Del Castro eventually drove him in with an RBI single.
Arizona took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning on a two-out solo homer by Corbin Carroll, who connected on a 1-0 fastball from Keller.
But in the fifth, the Pirates scored a pair to go in front 3-2.
Ryan O’Hearn produced the equalizer, ripping an RBI single to right field that escaped the grasp of a diving Ketel Marte at second base.
With two outs, Lowe got aboard again with a base hit, and Bryan Reynolds moved him to second by drawing a six-pitch walk.
After O’Hearn drove in Lowe, Spencer Horwitz came to the plate with runners on the corners and dropped an RBI single into right field, plating Reynolds for the lead.
Before the Pirates retook the lead, Keller retired the Diamondbacks in order in the bottom of the fourth, and he needed only eight pitches to do so again in the bottom of the fifth.
“That was a gutsy outing, the way that he went after it,” Kelly said. “(Early on, Keller) was falling behind and able to still make pitches when he needed to. It looked like he got in a little rhythm there in the middle of the game. He did a great job.”
Gallen (1-3, 4.70 ERA) began the sixth approaching 100 pitches and retired Jared Triolo and Billy Cook via groundouts.
But with two outs, Bart crushed Gallen’s first offering for a line-drive solo homer, his second of the season, putting the Pirates up 4-2.
Keller, again having retired Arizona in order in the sixth, took the mound in the seventh at 80 pitches.
However, after four pitches and letting up a leadoff single to Ildemaro Vargas, Keller was finished for the day.
Dennis Santana preserved the lead by delivering a scoreless frame, walking one.
In the eighth, Mason Montgomery got into a bit of trouble, issuing a walk and single, which led to his removal in favor of Isaac Mattson, who faced pinch-hitter and eight-time All-Star Nolan Arenado.
Mattson got the job done, striking out Arenado to strand a pair of Diamondbacks.
Soto delivered a spotless ninth, striking out Jorge Barrosa to end the game.
Note: Jake Mangum originally was listed as the Pirates’ starting center fielder but was replaced by Cook shortly before first pitch because of left hamstring discomfort. … Rookie Konnor Griffin (0 for 4, two strikeouts) saw an eight-game hit streak come to an end.