Pirates give Mitch Keller plenty of early offense in victory over Cardinals

The Pirates offense scored early and often Tuesday night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, collecting eight hits in the first three innings, including a Henry Davis home run, to cruise to an 8-3 win over the Cardinals.

Jared Triolo extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single on the second pitch of the game to open up the floodgates.

Triolo, Spencer Horwitz and Andrew McCutchen all singled in the first inning while Bryan Reynolds and Jack Suwinski doubled to score five runs on five hits, four of which were to the opposite field. They showcased a patient approach against St. Louis starter Andre Pallante and waited for pitches they could take advantage of, an approach they’ve spoken of and utilized as of late.

“We weren’t trying to go oppo, necessarily, but we’ve talked about continuing to commit to a plan and stay within ourselves,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “I think sometimes when we try to do too much and drive the ball and hit home runs, you start to pull off, and guys did a great job. I mean Pallante has really thrown the ball well against us in the past, and we really had to bear down today, and they did a great job.”

Pallante, who had a career 2.20 ERA in 17 appearances against the Pirates heading into Tuesday’s contest, was tagged for two more runs in the second. Horwitz scored from first when Reynolds doubled to right-center on a 3-2 fastball above the zone. Reynolds later scored on a Suwinski groundout.

Davis hit his sixth home run of the year in the third inning to cap off an 11-pitch at-bat, the longest by a Pirates hitter this season that finished in a home run. He fouled off seven pitches before pouncing on a middle-low slider and sending it 403 feet to the left-field seats. He saw 32 pitches in his four plate appearances.

Pallante lasted five innings, allowing eight hits and eight runs, seven of which were earned, before handing it over to the bullpen.

“To get some runs on the board, five in the first inning, I thought we had some great at-bats there,” Kelly said. “Triolo leading it off and being able to keep it rolling with Spence. Good baserunning in the first inning and then big base hits, especially with guys on base.”

Triolo, Horwitz, Reynolds and Isiah Kiner-Falefa all registered multi-hit games while McCutchen and Davis each tallied two RBIs. The offense finished with 11 hits, four of which went for extra bases, and was 3 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

Triolo, who’s hitting .373 over his last 15 games, has registered five straight multi-hit games and is the first Pirate to do so since Starling Marte in September of 2017.

“He’s doing a fantastic job,” Kelly said. “Going the other way, he’s pulled some balls, the long balls, he’s hit some doubles down the line, and the defense, as we know, is always there. He made a really nice play in the hole, too. He’s been very consistent lately, and he’s done a great job.”

Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller turned in his best start of the second half. He worked six innings, allowing three hits and three earned runs while striking out a season-high nine batters. He threw 93 pitches and 62 strikes but leaned heavily on his fastball, throwing it 56% of the time while producing a 29% whiff rate. His fastball topped out at 97.7 mph and averaged 94.8 mph.

Keller also utilized his sinker (15 pitches) and sweeper (10), which drew an 83% whiff rate and was put in play once.

He gave up a two-run homer to Nolan Gorman in the fourth.

“We were just filling it up and staying on the attack, really,” Keller said. “We used a lot of four-seams tonight, later in counts, and that really set up the sweeper. Hank did a really good job back there tonight.”

Keller has faced his fair share of struggles recently as he’s allowed five or more earned runs in three of his last five starts and has produced a 7.59 ERA over his last seven starts. However, he eased through this start by striking out the side in both the second and fifth innings, but did face one jam in the first.

He gave up back-to-back singles to designated hitter Iván Herrera and left fielder Alec Burleson to put runners on first and third before inducing an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play from first baseman Willson Contreras.

After his last start in Pittsburgh on Aug. 19, Keller said he needed to go back to the drawing board and make a few adjustments. After Tuesday’s start, Keller said he made a few mechanical adjustments and was “staying back” longer, which improved the timing of his delivery.

“I felt a lot better than I have the past few weeks,” Keller said. “It felt good to just fill up the zone. I feel like I executed more in two-strike counts than I have in a long time. So, a lot of positives from tonight and Henry did a great job.”

Kyle Nicolas and Isaac Mattson closed things out for the Pirates with three innings of scoreless relief. Neither allowed a hit, and Nicolas struck out three over two innings.

Kelly also announced that Carmen Mlodzinski would start Wednesday and Braxton Ashcraft would start Thursday to finish off the Pirates’ four-game set against the Cardinals.