Mitch Keller breaks PNC Park strikeouts record as Pirates shut out Cardinals to sweep series

When it comes to pitching at PNC Park, Mitch Keller now has more Ks than anyone in stadium history.

Not only did the 29-year-old right-hander break the stadium’s strikeouts record, but Keller delivered his best performance of the season as the Pittsburgh Pirates capped an historic homestand with another sweep.

Keller posted seven strikeouts in seven scoreless innings in a 5-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon before a crowd of 15,979 as the Pirates swept the series with a trio of shutouts.

“He did a phenomenal job,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Seven-inning shutout — and he got better, it seemed, as the game went on. Just continued to throw strikes, threw everything for strikes, commanded both sides of the plate. Just did a great job.”

It was the sixth consecutive win for the Pirates (38-50), who beat the Cardinals by a combined 13-0 over three games to complete a six-game homestand that started with a three-game sweep of the New York Mets by a combined score of 37-4 over the weekend.

The Pirates became the only major-league team since at least 1901 to score 43 or more runs and allow four or fewer runs over any six-game span. It marked their first back-to-back home series sweeps since 2018 and their first homestand with a 6-0 record or better since 2004.

“It was special. On paper, you’re looking at these games like trying to win a couple games then going out there and really dominating,” Pirates shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa said. “That’s the biggest thing: These aren’t just wins. These are dominating wins. It’s nice. You build off the confidence of domination of home. It’s hard not to feed off that.”

Keller (3-10) earned his second consecutive victory with his 12th quality start, allowing five hits, one walk and one hit batsman while throwing 61 of his 97 pitches for strikes. He entered the game one shy of Paul Maholm’s record for most strikeouts (383) of any pitcher at PNC Park and broke the mark in fewer starts (78) than Maholm (100).

“It’s a huge honor,” said Keller, in his seventh season with the Pirates. “It just kind of means I’ve been here the longest, probably, out of anybody. Yeah, it’s definitely cool. Time flies by, honestly. If you told me I’d break a record at PNC Park, I would never even think of that, which is cool. Probably will be really cool when I go back and reflect on it and see how cool it actually is. It’s a special one.”

The Cardinals, however, threatened to score against Keller early. After giving up a leadoff double to Brendan Donovan, Keller tied the record against the second batter he faced by getting Masyn Winn swinging at a full-count 81.9 mph sweeper low and away. Nolan Gorman reached on a fielder’s choice, and Keller hit Lars Nootbaar with a pitch to load the bases with two outs but got Thomas Saggesse to ground out to first.

The storyline of the season is the Pirates haven’t provided run support for Keller: They had scored one run or fewer in 10 of his first 16 starts before a 9-1 win over the Mets on Friday.

The Pirates changed that with a run early and added four more in the seventh. Oneil Cruz led off the second inning with a double to left, stole third base and scored on a single to left by Tommy Pham to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Keller struck out Winn again — this time looking at a 1-2 sinker clocked at 93.9 mph — to pass Maholm and break the record in the third inning. Alec Burleson belted the next pitch for a double to center. After Keller struck out Gorman, Nootbaar reached on an infield single to put runners on the corners with two outs.

Keller was saved by a standout defensive play. Saggesse hit a sharp grounder past third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, but Kiner-Falefa made a sliding stop on his knees and threw a one-hop to first base that Spencer Horwitz snagged to escape unscathed again.

“I think that was kind of the turning moment there,” Keller said, “when we knew that we were going to win this game.”

Keller allowed one more hit, a single by Pedro Pages in the fourth, then retired the final 10 batters he faced. Keller got Donovan swinging at a slider inside and at his ankle for his seventh strikeout, one shy of matching his season best eight (at the New York Mets on May 13).

That the homestand started and ended with Keller being rewarded with wins — and the strikeout record — meant even more to the Pirates.

“It’s incredible. It just shows what he’s done here in a short time,” Kiner-Falefa said of Keller. “Hopefully, he can keep going and break that record and make it tough for Paul (Skenes) to catch him. It’s exciting. But Mitch has done great all year, and he’s not getting the credit he deserves. All the numbers are there. We just haven’t hit with him. We haven’t really hit with other guys, as well. It feels like it’s more with Mitch than anybody else, so it’s nice to get him some runs. He keeps us in these games, and we pulled through for him finally.”

Sonny Gray (8-3) retired 12 consecutive Pirates before Nick Gonzales led off the seventh with a walk, then advanced to third on a single by Hayes. Pham singled to left to drive in Gonzales for a 2-0 lead, giving him RBIs in eight of his last nine games with five multi-RBI games.

That was it for Gray, who was replaced by Riley O’Brien. Hayes and Pham advanced on a Henry Davis groundout, and both scored when Kiner-Falefa hit a grounder through the middle for a 4-0 lead. Kiner-Falefa reached second on a wild pitch, then scored on a single to right by Horwitz for a five-run advantage.

Dennis Santana returned from his three-game suspension to pitch a scoreless eighth. Isaac Mattson recorded two outs in the ninth before giving up a single to Yohel Pozo and walking Scott. He got Donovan to pop up to Horwitz in foul territory to clinch another shutout.

Propelled by their pitching and defense against St. Louis, the Pirates pitched a shutout in three consecutive games for the first time since June 14-16, 2015, also a three-game sweep of the Cardinals. The Pirates have allowed two runs or fewer in all six games during their win streak. They have a day off Thursday, then begin a 10-day, nine-game road trip at Seattle, Kansas City and Minnesota before the All-Star break.

“It was unbelievable,” Kelly said of the successive sweeps. “We’ve talked about continuing to earn it. We’re not there yet. We still have to continue with that mindset, continue to carry this on, what we did this homestand against two really good teams, too.”