Behind Carlos Santana's homer, Mitch Keller's strong start, Pirates beat Red Sox for sweep

Carlos Santana was making solid contact, so the Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman believed he was close to making an offensive impact.

Santana, who hit .105 (2 for 19) in his first five games, went 2 for 4 with his first home run as a Pirate and an RBI double to spark a 4-1 win that clinched a three-game series sweep of the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon at Fenway Park.

“He’s had some good swings and hasn’t gotten any results but doesn’t change, and I think that’s the most calming thing about him,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “He had good at-bats, made a couple really good plays in the field. Had the one ground ball that was a top spinner that he had to back up on. There’s not a lot of guys that make that play. That ball usually gets by, or they have to body it. Overall he played outstanding.”

The Pirates (4-2) return to PNC Park for Friday’s home opener riding a three-game winning streak. It marked their first sweep on the road since taking four in a row last Sept. 12-14 at Cincinnati, including a doubleheader, and their first sweep on the road against an American League opponent since winning three games on the opening weekend at Detroit in 2018.

Mitch Keller (1-0) allowed one run on four hits and two walks and threw seven strikeouts on a career-high 107 pitches to earn his first victory of the season. Timely hitting against Boston’s bullpen provided support. Keller’s 78 strikes were the most by a Pirates pitcher since Gerrit Cole threw 78 of his 108 pitches for strikes April 24, 2015, at Arizona.

It marked the end, however, of Bryan Reynolds’ three-game streak of hitting a home run. Reynolds was still productive, going 1 for 4 with a double, a walk and a run scored to finish the series by batting .583 (7 for 12) with two doubles, three homers, five RBIs and five runs scored.

The Pirates loaded the bases with one out in the first inning after singles by Oneil Cruz and Andrew McCutchen and a walk to Santana. But Red Sox starter Corey Kluber got back-to-back pop-ups to second base from Ke’Bryan Hayes and Jack Suwinski to escape the jam.

Keller got out of his own scoring situation in the second when Christian Arroyo singled, advanced to second on a balk and reached third on Raimel Tapia’s groundout. But Yu Chang got behind in the count on a pitch clock violation and went down swinging at an 0-2 sweeper.

Kluber retired eight consecutive batters before Santana sent a first-pitch curveball 340 feet to right, just inside the Pesky Pole for a homer and 1-0 lead in the fourth. The 37-year-old Santana’s 279 career homers lead all active switch hitters.

“Last night and today, I feel much better,” Santana said. “I try to make good contact. That’s all you can do.”

Keller (1-1) protected the narrow lead — and a limited bullpen — by retiring 13 consecutive batters with ruthless efficiency, pitching clean third and fourth innings and striking out the side in the fifth.

John Schreiber relieved Kluber to start the sixth, and Reynolds doubled off the bottom of the Green Monster, then slid into third on McCutchen’s swinging bunt down the third-base line. That put Pirates runners on the corners with no outs.

After Santana struck out, the Pirates turned to small ball. Hayes dropped a bunt down the first-base line for a single to score Reynolds for a 2-0 lead.

Suwinski drew a walk to load the bases, but the Pirates again stranded three runners as Schreiber struck out Rodolfo Castro and got Ji Hwan Bae to line out to short.

The Pirates scored on a crazy play in the seventh that gave them a scare. Jason Delay hit a leadoff double off the Monster and advanced to third on a fielder’s choice when first baseman Triston Casas fielded a Cruz grounder but tried to throw out the lead runner instead.

Delay scored for a 3-0 lead when Reynolds flew out to left, but Rafael Devers didn’t cut off Masataka Yoshida’s throw to the plate, and Cruz took advantage of the throwing error to race around the bases. Cruz, however, collided with Devers’ leg while sliding safely into third and was checked on by Pirates trainers.

Cruz strolled in on Santana’s two-out double to the right-field corner to make it 4-0 but was removed in the bottom of the seventh when the Pirates shifted Castro to short, Bae to second, Suwinski to center and brought in Connor Joe to play right field.

Keller was pitching a one-hitter until the seventh, when Casas hit a two-out double off Reynolds’ glove against the Monster and scored on an Arroyo single off Bae’s sliding backhand attempt to cut it to 4-1. Keller got another bad bounce when Tapia hit a bouncer to short and beat Castro’s throw to first to put runners on the corners.

Reese McGuire turned on a 1-1 curveball, walking as he watched it sail down the right-field line. First base umpire Clint Vondrak signaled it fair for a tying three-run homer, but crew chief Dan Iassogna reversed the call and video review confirmed it was outside the Pesky Pole.

“If that’s a home run, it’s a tied game,” Keller said. “A huge turn of events right there and got the momentum going back in, and I think shut them down for the rest of the game. It was a big moment.”

Two pitches later, Keller froze McGuire with a 96 mph fastball for a called third strike to strand both runners.

“He was able to execute pitches, and his stuff was still good,” Shelton said. “He was still sharp, which was probably the most important thing.”

The Pirates were positioned to add on in the eighth, when Reynolds drew a one-out walk and they won a challenge after McCutchen was hit by a pitch. But Santana hit a comebacker that Zack Kelly threw to McGuire, who chased Reynolds to third in a rundown and tagged him out. McGuire then got McCutchen for a double play after McCutchen abandoned third.

Duane Underwood Jr. got Yoshida to ground into a double play and Casas to fly out in the ninth to earn his first save of the season.

“I think it’s really important to come into this environment for a young club against a good team. That’s a good team, and they score a bunch of runs,” Shelton said. “I was really proud of our pitchers of how they did a good job of neutralizing them.”