The Pittsburgh Pirates have navigated through plenty of visible issues so far this season, but an inability to fire on all cylinders has perhaps been the most significant obstacle for the club.
For part of April and May, offense was lacking.
More recently, through a 10-game losing streak, it was both the bullpen and starting rotation that completely imploded, with bad defense sprinkled in between.
Over the course of the year, the Pirates have struggled to simultaneously generate enough offense, play clean defense and get good pitching from both starters and relievers alike.
The Pirates’ 4-0 win over the Texas Rangers offered exactly that winning balance.
Mitch Keller started and turned in a gem, pitching seven scoreless innings.
MITCH KELLER TONIGHT:
— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) August 21, 2024
7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 SO
98 pitches, 73 strikes, 13 whiffs.
ACE. pic.twitter.com/kPGk2f5vey
Aroldis Chapman delivered a 1-2-3 eighth and David Bednar shut the Rangers down in order to close things out in the ninth.
Defensively, the Pirates committed no errors.
A three-run fourth inning gave Keller a lead and produced the majority of the night’s offense for the Pirates, although they did add an insurance run for good measure in the ninth.
“We finished strong,” said manager Derek Shelton on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Overall, it was nice to add on. Any time you can add on and go from three to four, four to five, is really important for us.”
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Keller’s outing came as particularly encouraging for the Pirates, given he’d been unable to last longer than five innings over his previous three starts.
Within the Pirates’ lengthy losing streak were two starts from Keller that went way off the rails, as he allowed a combined 15 hits and 15 runs against the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
Tuesday’s performance looked far more akin to the player on the mound through July, whom the Pirates inked to a five-year, $77-million deal in February.
“My last few games – definitely have blown up the bullpen,” Keller said postgame. “… It’s always the goal to go out there, go as deep as possible and use the least amount of pitchers as possible.”
Offensively, the Pirates got contributions from up and down their lineup.
Oneil Cruz was the only player with multiple hits, collecting a fourth-inning triple and later a single in the seventh, both of which came off Rangers starter Cody Bradford.
ONEIL CRUZ RBI TRIP-TRIP-TRIPLE
— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) August 21, 2024
PIRATES LEAD 3-0 pic.twitter.com/CaFEHa1G9G
In the ninth, Rowdy Tellez came through with a pinch-hit double that set up Jared Triolo’s RBI single.
Triolo’s hit continues a spurt of increased offensive production for Triolo, who has two homers and five RBIs over his last four games.
In addition, Bryan De La Cruz had a two-run RBI single in the fourth, giving him his first multi-RBI performance in a Pirates uniform.
“Bryan with the big at-bat, getting the two-out base hit – we needed a ball to fall,” Shelton said. “And then Oneil with a big hit after that. … (Bradford) was cruising. It was a perfect game for both clubs through three. The adjustments that we made, we were able to stay on top of the ball and get some fastballs, I think that was the key to the game for us, offensively.”
