MIAMI – All season, Mitch Keller has been the Pirates’ ace, the stopper, the calming presence in the face of adversity.
Thursday night was no different. But in the end, it didn’t matter.
A 4-1 lead the Pirates built on the heels of a masterful performance by Keller was wiped away by a five-run Marlins rally in the eighth as the Pirates lost their season-high 10th game in a row, falling 6-4 at loanDepot Park. Keller was masterful in seven innings, allowing only five hits, two of which never left the infield, and a singular run on a sacrifice fly.
Ultimately, however, the eighth-inning combination of Dauri Moreta and Carmen Mlodzinski proved incapable of holding the team’s three-run lead, representative of the Pirates’ bullpen’s struggles as a whole of late.
"Yeah, great outing by Mitch, it's exactly what we needed,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Should have had no earned runs, pitched really well, pitched effectively throughout the whole game and really executed pitches. Outstanding outing there. Frustrating that we weren't able to finish it for him."
Keller, aware of his role in the rotation given his season thus far–he’s pitched to a 3.45 ERA that ranks 24th in all of MLB–certainly rose to the occasion, even if his effort proved fruitless.
"I always want to be the guy that goes out there and gives us the best chance to win every night,” Keller said. “Just bringing that mentality of trying to win every day."
Moreta, however, who has been excellent in a myriad of roles out of the Pirates’ bullpen this year, has fallen into a funk this month. He failed to retire any of the three batters he faced when entering in relief of Keller. For the third appearance in a row, Moreta allowed at least two earned runs to score, and now his ERA in June sits at 10.13.
Shelton said Moreta’s slider, his most used pitch this year, isn’t where it needs to be. With Moreta ineffective, Shelton mercifully lifted him in favor of Mlodzinski, a rookie who was making just his fourth MLB appearance. Although Mlodzinski had produced back-to-back scoreless outings, he wasn’t able to make it three in a row.
Mlodzinski gave up a bases-loaded single to Bryan De La Cruz that trimmed the Marlins’ deficit to one. With two on, Mlodzinski threw his fourth fastball in a row to Garrett Cooper, who mashed his ninth home run of the season, a go-ahead blast that ensured the Pirates’ road trip wouldn’t start with a win.
"That's a big spot. I mean, it's the way our bullpen is right now,” Shelton said. “We're a little depleted down there, especially in leverage and Carmen's thrown the ball well. It's a tough spot for him and unfortunately, it didn't work out."
The Pirates relievers currently sidelined? Usual set-up man Colin Holderman and a pair of lefties in Rob Zastryzny and Jose Hernandez. Yohan Ramirez isn’t on the scene, either, but that’s because he was demoted to Triple-A after a trio of ineffective showings.
Shelton’s options were certainly thin in trying to preserve the lead predicated on Keller’s outing, and the buttons he pushed turned out to be the wrong ones. For Keller, who seemed well on his way to coming out on top in a pitching duel between himself and Braxton Garrett, who set a new career high with 13 strikeouts, it was a tough defeat to accept.
"Every loss stings. But yeah, this one hurts a little bit just because we had the lead and to lose it like that, it sucks. It definitely sucks,” Keller said. “It stings a little bit. But we can't keep thinking about it. We've got to move on. Tomorrow's a new day. We've got to act like we're on a 10-game winning streak. We've just got to come out, play with some swagger. Just a different attitude."
Unfortunately for Keller and the Pirates, however, that 10-game streak is in reality one of losing, not winning.
IN THE FIELD
Carlos Santana, who had a game-tying RBI double in the fourth and scored following a surprise stolen base that prompted a throwing error from Marlins catcher Nick Fortes, provided Keller with another sizable boost with a pair of solid defensive plays.
With two away in the bottom half of that inning, Santana made a leaping snare by climbing the ladder on a hot-shot grounder from Jon Berti. Santana was holding on Cooper, who had singled just prior, but came off the bag quick enough to make the acrobatic play.
When the Marlins came to bat in the bottom of the ensuing inning, Santana this time moved quite well to his left, making a sliding snag down the line on a grounder from leadoff man Joey Wendle before flipping the ball in time to a covering Keller.
“We created a run with Santana taking an opportunity and got a ball thrown away,” Shelton said. “He played really well. He made the play in the fourth on the diving play with the runner at first and then we just did not finish the game."
AT THE PLATE
Henry Davis hit his first career MLB home run in the eighth inning, providing the Pirates with what appeared to be an insurance run at the time in a 3-1 ball game and a memorable moment for the former No. 1 overall pick.
Davis, who before the at-bat was 1 for 11 since being called up from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier this week, got a hanging slider from Nardi and smoked it out to left-center, traveling an estimated 407 feet at a little more than 100 mph, per Statcast.
Off the bat, Davis had a pretty good idea that he’d put a solid charge into the ball and hoped it’d depart for his first MLB blast. Davis’ smash, while noteworthy, was one he enjoyed, but not as much as a victory would have felt, considering the Pirates are winless since his call-up.
"It was a good moment,” Davis said. “I just wish we would have won the game."
QUOTABLE
"We're up 4-1, we get into the eight,” Shelton said. “That's a game we have to finish and we did not finish it."
UP NEXT
Luis Ortiz will start for the Pirates in the second contest of the four-game set. Southpaw Jesus Luzardo gets the nod for the Marlins.
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1.
First Published: June 23, 2023, 1:01 a.m.
Updated: June 23, 2023, 1:01 a.m.
