Mitch Keller fails to quiet Yankees' bats in Pirates' 9-4 loss in home opener

Mitch Keller’s shoulders remain strong in his seventh big-league season, but they don’t need to carry all the weight of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2-6 start.

Nonetheless, he was willing Friday night to admit the truth after he allowed seven runs and couldn’t finish the fourth inning in the Pirates’ 9-4 loss to the New York Yankees. The loss dropped the Pirates to 1-5 in home openers under manager Derek Shelton, and it was the third since the start of this season by a margin of five or more runs.

“That loss was completely on me,” said Keller, who was the starter and winning pitcher in the Pirates’ first victory of the season March 28 in Miami. “Ultimately, it comes down to me. I gave up seven runs, and that’s really tough to come back from.”

Opening Day at PNC Park didn’t start well for the Pirates or Keller, who turned 29 on Friday. The organization missed by a minute its intended start time: 4:12 p.m. to match the local area code. But that was a trivial matter compared to what followed against the defending American League champions (5-2), who already have scored 62 runs.

Topping out his velocity at 97.3 mph, Keller pitched out of a two-on, nobody-out jam in the first inning with called third strikes on Jazz Chisholm and Paul Goldschmidt. But the Pirates did not have much good news the rest of the day.

In the second, Keller surrendered two walks sandwiched around a double by Jasson Dominguez and a two-RBI single by Oswaldo Cabrera that turned into two bases when Oneil Cruz misplayed the baseball in center field.

“He got through the first. We saw really good velocity,” Shelton said. “The third and fourth he got two outs on eight pitches and nine pitches, and then his command kind of got away from him. Uncharacteristic of what we’ve seen from his first start and all throughout spring training. It just looked like his misses were really inconsistent.”

Keller said he felt good, but, under the circumstances, he wasn’t bragging about his velocity.

“Ultimately, who cares if it’s 98 (mph). I’d rather throw 91 and throw strikes more often than not,” he said. “I just have to throw more strikes early in counts. That was the big thing, especially the slider and off-speed stuff.”

Keller was more than willing to recite his litany of problems that included eight hits, four walks and two hit batters.

“It’s really what it came down to, getting behind, a couple walks, hit by pitches and a couple broken-bat singles, ground balls up the middle,” he said. “It’s just frustrating. It’s not like I was getting hit around the yard for doubles and homers. It’s very controllable stuff.”

In the midst of the Yankees building leads of 7-1 and 9-1 (the latter on Aaron Judge’s sixth home run), chants of “Sell the team” were clearly heard coming from the crowd of 36,893. Shelton heard them, too.

“Their frustration is they want to win. I want to win. The players want to win,” he said. “You have to keep focusing on that.”

The mistakes continued, including errors by Cruz in center field and left fielder Alexander Canario. Starting left fielder Tommy Pham got sick after one at-bat, according to Shelton, and left the game. Also, Isiah Kiner-Falefa was picked off first base.

“We have to play better defensively in the outfield,” Shelton said. “We have to clean that up. The thing with IKF, that just can’t happen. In a 7-1 game, you can’t get picked off.”

The lone bright spots for the Pirates were Bryan Reynolds’ solo home run, Ke’Bryan Hayes’ three-run homer in the seventh and Andrew McCutchen recording three singles and playing right field after only 21 innings there last season and no work at all during spring training.

With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, he robbed Ben Rice of extra bases, chasing down a line drive toward the line after the Yankees already had scored three runs.

“This guy’s a pro. He’s prepared,” Shelton said. “The one thing about it is how much he’s going to be able to do it just because of his legs, but I thought he was really good.”

Said McCutchen: “Just like riding a bike. Some things you may lose physically. But when it comes to playing in the outfield, I feel like I can still do it. I may not be able to do it as much as I used to. But when given the opportunity, I know I can play a good enough outfield to not hurt the team.”

McCutchen was forced into the outfield because of Reynolds’ triceps injury.

“I’ve wanted to do it, especially understanding Bryan’s situation,” he added. “I don’t want to feel like I’m just sitting here collecting a paycheck.”

When he was asked how he felt after a full game in the outfield, he said, “Ask me (Saturday).”