Offensive outburst propels Mitch Keller to win as Pirates pound Mets in series opener

Mitch Keller weathered the lack of run support from the Pittsburgh Pirates without complaint, bearing the burden of strong starts not being rewarded with a win since the second game of the season.

The Pirates had scored one run or fewer in 10 of his 16 starts, never scoring more than four for Keller. That made their four-run second inning a long-awaited breakthrough — and three-run sixth a big bonus.

Buoyed by that offensive outburst, Keller delivered another solid start to earn his first win since March 28 as the Pirates beat the New York Mets, 9-1, on Friday night before 29,055 at PNC Park.

“For Mitch, that was awesome,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “He did what he’s done consistently throughout this year: Pitched really, really well against a really good team. To score some runs for him felt really good, and to get him the win was great.”

Keller (2-10) allowed one run on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts on 94 pitches (62 strikes) in 5 1/3 innings. He was removed two outs short of his 12th quality start and one strikeout shy of tying Paul Maholm’s record (383) for the most in PNC Park history.

“It feels good, for sure,” Keller said. “Winning as a team always feels good. … Honestly, I would have rather had a quality start. I’m glad we got the win, but a quality start with the win would (have been) amazing. But I’ll take the win, for sure.”

Wins have been hard to come by for Keller. The Pirates were 3-13 in his starts, losing five consecutive and 12 of his past 13. They hadn’t scored more than two runs for Keller in a game since a 9-4 loss to the San Diego Padres on May 2, a string of nine straight starts. Against the Mets, the Pirates had five players with multiple hits and six with RBIs as they went 6 for 17 with runners in scoring position.

“I’m still trying to get them out as quickly as possible, no matter what the score is,” Keller said. “You can be not as cautious, I guess would be the word. You can just let your stuff work and if you give up a hit here and there, it’s not the end of the world.”

Keller endured a 29-pitch first inning to get through the Mets’ first four batters, which features a trio of four-time All-Stars and a pair of Home Run Derby champions. Keller passed that test, getting a full-count strikeout of leadoff hitter Francisco Lindor before giving up a single to Brandon Nimmo, who stole second. Keller got Juan Soto to fly out before a 10-pitch battle with cleanup hitter Pete Alonso ended with the slugger swinging at a full-count slider low and away for a strikeout.

“If we don’t get them out, then it could be a completely different game,” Keller said. “Who knows? I could have never made it out of the first. The game could be completely different if I don’t get out of the first there with the pitch count I was already at.”

Now came the question of whether the Pirates would back him up. They had scored 36 runs in Keller’s previous 16 starts, with only 21 coming when he was on the mound. That all changed in the second inning against Mets lefty David Peterson.

With one out, Joey Bart drew a full-count walk, advanced to third on a single to right by Ke’Bryan Hayes and scored on a single to the left-field corner by Jared Triolo to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Alexander Canario followed by driving a double over Juan Soto’s head in right field, scoring Hayes to make it 2-0 and putting two runners in scoring position. Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a liner to left to score Triolo for a 3-0 lead, and Tommy Pham drove in Canario by grounding into a forceout at second base for a four-run advantage.

Soto put the Mets on the scoreboard when he led off the fourth by driving a 1-1 sweeper 416 feet to center field for his 20th home run, cutting the Pirates’ lead to 4-1. But Keller remained unfazed, completing the inning on five pitches by getting a groundout and two flyouts.

“That’s huge,” Keller said. “They were obviously swinging that inning. Soto made a great swing. He’s a really good player. To get the next few guys out on five pitches was huge, honestly. It kind of felt like a win on our end for pitch count, to keep going back out.”

Bryan Reynolds led off the fifth with a double off the Clemente Wall, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Hayes doubled off the 21-foot wall in right field to give the Pirates a 5-1 lead.

Keller was pulled with one out in the sixth, after Soto walked and Alonso singled. Isaac Mattson came on in relief and got Jeff McNeil to fly out to left, then struck out Mark Vientos to end the frame.

After Kiner-Falefa hit a leadoff single and Pham drew a walk, Reynolds cleared the Clemente Wall for a 402-foot, three-run home run off Blade Tidwell to give the Pirates an 8-1 cushion in the bottom of the sixth.

The Pirates padded their lead in the seventh, when Canario hit a ground-rule double and scored on Pham’s line drive to center for a 9-1 lead.

“It don’t matter who it’s for,” said Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen, who went 2 for 5. “Obviously, for Mitch they’re going to pay more attention because of how it’s been for him, but I’m just happy to be able to put runs on the board for anybody. We haven’t been able to do that consistently so it’s nice to put runs on the board, to continue to put runs on the board as the game continues and not just settle for the four we got early and give those guys a little bit of breathing room.”