In the last two games before Friday, the Pirates had staked their opponent a lead in the first inning before climbing back to win.
Friday’s game looked to be following that formula again. Right-hander Mitch Keller found immediate trouble against the Washington Nationals, giving up four straight singles to start the game, amounting to two runs before getting out of the jam. He gave up another in the second, on yet another single, before the Pirates began chipping back. They loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, plating two runs of their own on an RBI single from Hoy Park.
The difference on this night was that the offense dried up and the pitching never shut the Nationals down. Over the remaining seven innings of the game, the Pirates mustered just three hits, a third-inning double from third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, a fifth-inning, bloop single from center fielder Bryan Reynolds and a ninth-inning single from second baseman Diego Castillo.
Meanwhile, Keller and right-hander Miguel Yajure could not get things under control, allowing a run in the fourth and fifth frames, respectively, and two more in the sixth to spell doom for the Pirates (3-4), as they fell, 7-2.
“We have to be better in the first inning,” manager Derek Shelton said. “We have to get after guys and stay in attack mode in the first inning, and it doesn’t seem like we’re doing a very efficient job of that so far. As far as how we’re going to deploy guys, we’re always looking at different ways and always open to different things. We’ll keep looking at it.”
Pirates fans have no doubt become tired of hearing the sentiment: there are still reasons to think positively about Keller. Two of the four straight singles he allowed in the first inning came against shifted infields, ground balls that slid through the left side, where no defenders were stationed. In the fourth, with runners on the corners and one out, he got Nelson Cruz to break his bat, but the ball was dribbled so weakly to third that Hayes had no choice but to take the easy out at first, and a run scored.
He also showed vast improvement with his changeup, recording a career-high seven called strikes plus whiffs (CSW). The development of that pitch could, in theory, make a difference for Keller moving forward.
“I’m cool with how I’m throwing it right now. I’m feeling really good,” Keller said. “I think it was seven singles tonight. I can’t do anything about some of those. You just have to keep pushing forward.”
At the same time, it is difficult to cling to the idea that Keller was unlucky, or that this outing could be spun too positively, considering the greater circumstances. All of the hits he allowed were singles, and some of them were of the seeing-eye variety, but he still allowed seven of them in just 3 2/3 innings. Four of them came with two strikes as well, counts where pitchers are typically expected to have the upper hand.
Plus, Keller showed stages of wildness, walking three untimely batters throughout his outing. In the end, it took him 84 pitches to record just 14 outs, and when he departed, the Pirates had a hole to climb out from.
“Hopefully, it’ll change here sooner than later,” Keller said. “That’s what I’m trying to do is get weak contact. To see that I’m getting weak contact is definitely a really positive sign for myself going on. I’m just rolling with it, trying to keep the weak contact up and hopefully it’ll fall my way here soon.”
That hole only got deeper when Yajure entered. He allowed two doubles in the fifth for one run, then hit a batter and walked two more to load the bases in the sixth. As he did in the first inning, former Pirate Josh Bell then beat the shift and plated two runs, securing the 7-2 final score.
Around the horn
Catcher Roberto Pérez left the game in the second inning with a left quad contusion. The injury occurred in the top of the inning. Nationals slugger Nelson Cruz fouled a pitch off of Pérez’s leg, just above the knee. Trainers came out to check on him, and he actually stayed in the game to catch the rest of that inning.
When Pérez’s spot in the order came up in the bottom of the inning, though, backup Andrew Knapp stepped into the batter’s box instead. At this time, there is no update on the severity.
“He’s pretty sore. I mean, he got hit pretty flush,” Shelton said. “Fortunately, he was able to get seven or eight innings of treatment. We’ll see how he sleeps tonight and comes in. I would say he’s day to day but he got flushed up pretty good.”
Mike Persak: mpersak@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPersak
First Published: April 16, 2022, 2:06 a.m.
Updated: April 16, 2022, 2:59 a.m.
