Behind pair of 2-run homers, Brewers beat Pirates to clinch series win

Mitch Keller has worked hard to avoid the second-half swoon that plagued his past two seasons as the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander has focused on his mechanics to maximize his pitching power.

Keller delivered his 17th quality start of the season against the Milwaukee Brewers, but for the second consecutive start, a home run doomed his outing.

Where Boston’s Jarren Duran hit a three-run, inside-the-park homer off Keller, Jake Bauers provided the big blast for the Brewers with a two-run shot in the fourth inning.

Jackson Chourio added another two-run homer in the eighth as the Brewers beat the Pirates, 4-1, on Saturday night before 17,975 at PNC Park to clinch a three-game series win.

“Overall, it sucks,” Keller said. “But when you look at the little things and the things within the game — how I’m feeling, what I’m doing, what I’m trying to execute – when you go and analyze stuff like that, there’s a lot of positives to come from it. That one negative can definitely kill an outing, for sure.”

The Pirates will attempt to avoid a three-game sweep Sunday, when Bubba Chandler will make the first start of his major-league career against Jacob Misiorowski in a marquee matchup of rookie right-handers whose fastballs flirt with triple-digit velocity.

They will have a tough act to follow as Keller and Brandon Woodruff staged a showdown through the first six innings Saturday. Bauers’ homer provided the only two runs Keller (6-14) allowed on five hits without a walk and four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Woodruff (6-2) was even better, holding the Pirates scoreless for six innings while recording eight strikeouts without a walk and allowing two hits.

“Woodruff did a nice job keeping us off balance, mixing in the cutter,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “When he would throw the four-seamer in there, even at 93, it really jumped. He kept us off balance with those two pitches, was able to mix in the breaker a little bit. He’s a veteran guy, and he showed that. I think we do need to be a little more aggressive.”

Twice, Keller got out of a jams. He gave up a leadoff double to Sal Frelick but stranded him at third base in the first inning and allowed a leadoff single to Bauers in the second but got Caleb Durbin to ground into a double play.

With two outs in the fourth, William Contreras singled to right field before Bauers bopped a 3-0 fastball 382 feet over the Clemente Wall for his sixth home run to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead.

“I thought it was overall really good. I threw a lot of strikes, got some quick outs,” said Keller, who threw 59 of his 92 pitches for strikes. “Really just one mistake — probably four in a row there. I threw three balls, then gave up a homer so that was kind of the turning point of the game with Woodruff doing what he was doing out there. He was just nails. I don’t think anybody was going to hit him, no matter who the lineup was. He was fantastic.”

After Bryan Reynolds singled in the first, Woodruff retired the next 15 batters (six by strikeout) before Jared Triolo hit a two-out single to right in the sixth inning. But Woodruff got Spencer Horwitz to chase a sinker away for his eighth strikeout to end the inning.

When Keller hit Andrew Vaughn with a pitch with one out in the seventh, the Pirates turned to Kyle Nicolas. The righty reliever struck out Durbin and Blake Perkins to end the frame.

“It was huge, honestly,” Kelly said of Keller’s start. “For him to get into the seventh inning and go six and a third, with where the bullpen is at right now, talking about the length of the season, it was a huge start from a length perspective. I thought he threw the ball great.”

Erick Fedde relieved Woodruff in the seventh and surrendered a leadoff double to Reynolds. With two outs, the Brewers brought in lefty Rob Zastryzny to face the lefty-hitting Oneil Cruz, only for him to draw a full-count walk to put runners on first and second base. But Zastryzny got Nick Yorke to pop up in foul territory to strand both runners.

After Nicolas completed a scoreless inning for the second consecutive outing, the Pirates brought in lefty Evan Sisk to face the top of the order. It backfired, as Frelick singled to center and Jackson Chourio sent a 1-1 cutter 365 feet down the left-field line for his 19th homer and a 4-0 Brewers lead.

The Pirates put a pair of runners on against Tobias Myers in the eighth, when Henry Davis drew a leadoff walk and Triolo hit a one-out single to right. When the Brewers brought in lefty Aaron Ashby, the Pirates had Alexander Canario pinch-hit for Horwitz — only for Canario to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Reynolds drew a walk to lead off the ninth, reached third on a ground-rule double by Nick Gonzales and scored on a groundout to second by Cruz to cut it to 4-1. With Gonzales at third, Ashby struck out Yorke to end the game.

After sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Pirates are searching for ways to get their bats going against the Brewers and avoid the sweep.

“We found ways to score runs in that Dodgers series. Even before that, we did it against the Red Sox,” Kelly said. “We need to stack at-bats together and continue to stay aggressive in the box against pitches that we can handle. Gonzo, in the ninth inning, did a nice job. Bryan swung the bat well tonight. Just find a way to continue stacking those at-bats together.”