Pittsburgh Review

After back-to-back subpar outings, Pirates starter Mitch Keller righted the ship Tuesday night with one of his most impressive starts of the season, blanking the Rangers for seven-plus innings in a 4-0 victory at Globe Life Field.

Keller posted a 15.00 ERA and a .357 opponents’ batting average in his previous two appearances, both losses, in Los Angeles and San Diego earlier this month. But on Tuesday, he returned to the form that made him an All-Star last season and helped him earn double-digit victories this season and last. He struck out nine and walked none.

After the win, Keller said the strategy for returning to form wasn’t complicated.

“Just filling [the strike zone] up, throwing as many strikes as possible and being on the attack -- I think that led to a lot of success out there,” Keller said.

The Pirates' right-hander made that plan look simple, getting to 0-2 counts in 11 at-bats. He threw 98 pitches, including 73 for strikes.

“Everything was working, and I think he did a good job of executing different mixes to be able to get himself in those counts,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “It just felt like throughout the game, he was ahead and in attack mode, right from the get-go.”

Keller was rarely behind in counts, throwing only four pitches total with three-ball counts.

“It’s freeing, for sure,” Keller said of getting ahead of hitters. “You just kind of feel like anything you’re throwing is going to work. It definitely puts them on their heels, and you can feel it. You can feel the pressure that you’re putting on them. Ask any hitter; they don’t like being 0-2. So I’m trying to get there as fast as possible.”

Unlike in his recent missteps, Keller dictated the tempo against almost all the batters he faced. In his previous start, where he allowed eight runs in five innings to the Padres, Keller threw 36 balls out of 86 pitches. The start before that saw him give up seven runs in four innings to the Dodgers while throwing 45 of his 95 pitches for balls.

“I know our pitching group had said, ‘Hey, the last two starts you have not been in attack mode. You’ve got to go after them,’” Shelton said. “And he did.”

By commanding his four-seam fastball and sinker early in counts, Keller was able to mix an assortment of sweepers, curveballs, sliders and cutters effectively. He retired the first 11 batters he faced before surrendering a single in the fourth inning to Josh Smith who made Keller work harder than any other Rangers hitter; Smith’s three at-bats against Keller comprised 24 pitches.

Josh Jung ended Keller’s night with a leadoff single in the eighth inning but Pittsburgh got a scoreless inning each from Aroldis Chapman -- who received his World Series ring from last year with Texas -- and David Bednar to preserve the shutout.

“We finished strong,” Shelton said.

Pittsburgh’s offense gave Keller all he needed in the fourth inning scoring three runs as Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled; Connor Joe reached on a ground-rule double; Bryan De La Cruz drove home both runners with a single; Oneil Cruz followed with a triple bringing home De La Cruz.

Jared Triolo added insurance in the eighth inning with an RBI single scoring Rowdy Tellez.

Keller was able to outduel Rangers lefty Cody Bradford who tossed seven solid innings allowing only three Pirates runs during their fourth-inning surge.