Pair of seemingly sensible pitching decisions backfire for Pirates, Don Kelly in loss to Royals

Sticking with Mitch Keller in a tie game after the Royals put a man on first base in the seventh inning Tuesday in Kansas City made enough sense, and it’s the decision that Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly made.

At that point, when Salvador Perez got aboard due to catcher’s interference on Henry Davis, Keller was at 84 pitches and had retired 16 straight batters dating to the second inning.

Keller quickly got Jac Caglianone to fly out for the second out, with Kelly giving his starter an opportunity to complete the inning.

However, moments later, the move backfired when Keller allowed a go-ahead, two-run homer to Nick Loftin.

Loftin for the lead!@STIHLUSA pic.twitter.com/HPy6H48BMx

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) July 9, 2025

After the Pirates tied the game in the eighth, Loftin later won the game for Kansas City with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.

Following the Pirates’ 4-3 defeat, Kelly discussed Keller’s outing.

“He was rolling,” Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Looked like the fastball was really good, throwing to both sides (of the plate). Breaking ball, as well, mixing some changeups. He pitched really well.”

The only other real blemish on Keller’s evening Tuesday came in the second inning, immediately preceding his 16-out stretch, when Caglianone took him deep for a solo home run to put the Royals up 1-0.

But aside from the two homers, Keller (3-10, 3.58 ERA), who took a no-decision, allowed only two additional hits, both first-inning singles that he was able to work around.

“He really hit his stride again today like his last outing and was really efficient through the middle of the game,” Kelly said. “Lot of early, weak contact, some pop-ups and he pitched really well. Was just a couple tough pitches there.”

Extending Keller some runway wasn’t the only decision Kelly made Tuesday that did not go as planned.

In the eighth, Dennis Santana took over on the hill, delivering a clean frame.

Kelly stuck with Santana in the ninth, with the score tied 3-3, but he quickly got into trouble by allowing consecutive singles to Maikel Garcia and Perez.

Santana staying on for the ninth was hardly irregular, as Kelly, despite preferring not to put a label on David Bednar as the club’s closer, generally only inserts him at the end of games when the Pirates are in position to win.

Furthermore, Santana has pitched half-dozen outings of one-plus innings and hadn’t allowed an earned run since June 3.

Santana managed to get Caglianone to fly out to right field for the inning’s first out, with Kelly then removing him in favor of Isaac Mattson.

Mattson has increasingly earned the trust of his manager since being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis in early June and had a 1.50 ERA on the year entering Tuesday.

Unfortunately, Mattson, who has shown an ability to put out fires over his 15 games to date with the Pirates, was unable to do so, with Loftin collecting the game-winning RBI single on the second pitch he saw.

In the Nick of time!#HEYHEYHEYHEY pic.twitter.com/ES9bmJbzm1

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) July 9, 2025

The loss went to Santana (2-2, 1.60 ERA), who was charged with his first run in 12 appearances.

Despite Keller and Mattson’s best efforts, Loftin put together one of his best days at the plate as a big-leaguer, tying his career-high in RBIs with three, with Kelly giving credit.

“He hit the ball yesterday and then today he has the home run and the game-ending (hit),” Kelly said. “It’s tough. I thought, looking back at the pitch that Mitch threw him, it looked like he caught a lot of the plate. I didn’t get to see the last one from Mattson, but he’s put some good swings on the ball and driven it like we’ve seen.”