Mitch Keller delivers quality start despite delays as Pirates beat Braves

Mitch Keller wasn’t watching the clock, but he was ready to warm up the minute it was determined the rain delay that interrupted the fifth inning would allow him to ample time to return to the mound.

After a 30-minute break, the Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star right-hander continued a strong start by recording five more outs to polish off another quality start amid a masterful month of May.

Keller held the Atlanta Braves to one run over 6 2/3 innings, saving wear and tear on a bullpen that put the finishing touches on a 4-1 win Saturday afternoon before 31,459 at PNC Park. The Pirates (25-28) will attempt to clinch a sweep of the three-game series at 1:35 p.m. Sunday.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton called Keller’s ability to weather the storms — before and during play — the story of the game.

“The fact that he was able to come back out and finish it and go through, again, probably one of the best offenses in baseball,” Shelton said, “it was very impressive.”

Keller (6-3) stretched his streak of pitching at least five innings to 42 consecutive starts with another strong performance. He allowed six hits without a walk and recorded four strikeouts while throwing 62 of his 88 pitches for strikes to complete his sixth quality start.

“You just have to stay locked in. Whatever it takes,” Keller said. “The hardest one is the mid-game delay. Before the game, that’s fine, whatever. You can still have your routine. Just I’ve never done that before. Just trying to stay hot. Going to warm up again is crazy, but it is what it is. You’ve got to find a way.”

After posting a 5.18 ERA over his first seven starts, Keller has allowed only four runs and has a 1.30 ERA in May.

He tossed his second career complete game May 6 against the Los Angeles Angels, threw six shutout innings in an 8-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on May 13 and went six innings in a 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on May 19.

Keller has allowed three earned runs or fewer in five consecutive starts and seven of his first 11 starts this season. And he did so despite a 28-minute delay before the start and a pregame ceremony to honor members of the Pirates’ 1979 World Series champions.

The Pirates provided an early lead when Jared Triolo drilled a leadoff double down the third-base line in the third, then scored on Ji Hwan Bae’s single to center to make it 1-0.

Bae provided a big defensive play with what Shelton called an “unbelievable catch” in center field in the fourth, stretching out to make a diving catch on a leadoff line drive by Marcell Ozuna. Playing deep and in the shift in anticipation of an opposite-field hit, Bae didn’t think he had a shot at making the catch off the bat.

“I thought it was a no-doubt double,” Bae said through translator Daniel Park, “but then the ball was kind of tailing down a little bit, and I just kept tracking and tracking.”

Not only did it save an extra-base hit but possibly prevented the go-ahead run when Matt Olson followed with a single to right then advanced to second on a single to left by Michael Harris II and scored on Jarred Kelenic’s single to right to tie the score at 1-1.

Oneil Cruz drew a full-count walk to start the fourth, then made a good read when Nick Gonzales doubled off the Clemente Wall. Cruz hesitated between first and second base, then sprinted around the bases to score for a 2-1 lead. Gonzales advanced to third on an error by right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr., then scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Edward Olivares to give the Pirates a 3-1 edge.

After Bryan Reynolds singled to right with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, the game was interrupted by another weather delay — this one involving hail — that lasted 30 minutes.

Where the Braves replaced Reynaldo Lopez (2-2) with lefty Aaron Bummer, Keller returned to the mound for the Pirates despite Shelton’s concerns about the extended downtime.

Those fears were alleviated when his first pitch was a 94.6-mph four-seam fastball that drew a whiff from Olson to start the sixth. Keller got Olson to fly out to left, Orlando Arcia to ground out to third and struck out Michael Harris II to end the sixth, then got Jarred Kelenic to fly out to left and struck out Chadwick Tromp before hitting Zack Short with a pitch.

“Personally, I was hoping he’d get us three outs, and the fact that he got us five outs was huge,” Shelton said. “That’s the story of the game: How sharp he was, but going out and getting us five outs.”

Colin Holderman relieved Keller, drawing cheers when he got Acuna looking at a called strike on a full-count sinker to end the frame.

The Pirates tacked on another run in the seventh, when Bae drew a walk, advanced to second on Andrew McCutchen’s single to left and scored on a single to center by Reynolds for a 4-1 lead.

Holderman gave up a single to Ozuna in the eighth but got Olson looking at a backdoor cutter on the outside corner for a called third strike, then got Arcia to ground out to third to protect the lead.

The Braves got a two-out, pinch-hit double from Travis d’Arnaud followed by a line-drive single from Adam Duvall to put runners on the corners in the ninth, but David Bednar got Acuna to ground into a forceout at second to record his 11th save.

“Mitch is one of our best pitchers and whenever he’s on the mound we’re always trying to play a winning game,” Bae said. “It’s a confidence boost.”