The Pittsburgh Pirates were deliberate in placing Jared Jones between a pair of innings eaters in the starting rotation, only for Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller to struggle through shortened starts.
For the second consecutive outing, Keller pitched fewer than five innings despite his third-highest pitch count of the season.
Mauricio Dubon hit a two-run homer — his third in as many games — and added an RBI double to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 6-3 win over the Pirates on Friday night at Truist Park.
Keller allowed six runs on seven hits and three walks on 99 pitches in 42⁄3 innings against the Braves (42-21), who have the best record in baseball. Four Braves batters had two hits apiece as top-of-the-order hitters Ronald Acuna Jr., Michael Harris II and Matt Olson combined to go 6 for 14.
“They’re always aggressive,” Keller said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “They’ve got a really good lineup over there. That’s why they’ve got the best record in baseball. They just did better than I did.”
It marked the fourth time in the past five outings that he didn’t complete six innings. Keller allowed seven runs on 10 hits and one walk in four innings in a 10-9 win over the Minnesota Twins on May 30.
With Bubba Chandler, Skenes and Jones all going five or fewer innings in the three-game series at Houston, the Pirates haven’t had a starter make it through six innings since Braxton Ashcraft’s 11-strikeout performance in a 9-3 win over the Twins on May 31.
Keller (5-3) walked Austin Riley and hit Mike Yastrzemski with a pitch above his left ankle to give the Braves a pair of free passes in the second inning. That came back to bite him when Acuna hit a two-out single to right field to score Riley for a 1-0 lead.
The Pirates answered with three runs in the third, when Braves lefty Martin Perez allowed two walks in a 30-pitch frame. Perez (4-3) had five strikeouts and allowed three hits and two walks in five innings.
Spencer Horwitz drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on Jared Triolo’s double to left-center and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Henry Davis to tie the score. Triolo, who had advanced on the sacrifice fly, scored on a dribbler to third by Nick Gonzales for a 2-1 advantage. With two outs, Marcell Ozuna singled to center field to drive in Gonzales for a 3-1 edge.
Ozuna, who played for the Braves from 2020-25, drew a standing ovation from fans in his first return to Atlanta since signing a $12 million contract with the Pirates in February. He went 2 for 4 and called the reception a “special moment.”
The Pirates’ lead didn’t last long.
After Keller walked Ozzie Albies, he left a 1-2 curveball over the center for Dubon. The Braves shortstop homered for the third consecutive game, hitting it 405 feet to left field for a tying two-run shot.
“I thought that he threw the ball well at times, then the one pitch to Dubon looked like a hanging changeup,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Left it up there a little bit, and he got ahold of it.”
The Braves took control in the fifth, scoring three runs on four hits and knocking Keller out of the game. Harris and Olson got the rally started by hitting back-to-back singles to center. Oneil Cruz saved an extra-base hit by robbing Albies with a leaping catch against the fence, but Harris tagged to third and scored when Dubon’s line drive skipped past right fielder Jhostynxon Garcia for a double and 4-3 lead.
Dominic Smith followed with a sacrifice fly to center that drove in Olson for a 5-3 advantage and allowed Dubon to advance to third, and he scored when Austin Riley doubled over Garcia and off the right-field fence to give the Braves a 6-3 lead.
The Pirates, meantime, went 16 consecutive batters without reaching base. That stretch saw them go down 1-2-3 from the fourth through the eighth innings, ending when Bryan Reynolds drew a leadoff walk against Braves closer Raisel Iglesias in the ninth. Ozuna singled to left to put runners on first and second base, but Iglesias got pinch hitter Ryan O’Hearn to ground into a game-ending double play to earn his 12th save.
Keller admitted that he wasn’t sharp and that it’s up to him to figure out how to get out of his recent funk.
“To me, just maybe with two strikes being able to put guys away,” Kelly said. “I think that is a key to pitching, getting ahead and being able to put them away. It’s tougher to finish them. That last inning, it looked like they jumped him. They were being more aggressive early in the count and got some barrels. We fully know Mitch is going to work hard to get out of it.”