PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – After three outings combining to give up 15 runs, Mitch Keller said he was better attacking the zone as the Pirates beat the Mets 2-1 Sunday as Keller gave up only a solo homer to Jeff McNeil.
"Command of the zone,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “I mean, he went right after. He executed all of the pitches. The sweeper was really good early, mixed in the cutter, and then later in the game, the fastball was in the seventh, still 97-98, and was really impressive. It was a nice bounce-back outing for Mitch.
“Cutter usage, everything’s just up a little bit more,” Keller said. “Just getting the weak contact and putting guys away when we had an opportunity. Just following Hedges back there, he was pretty good back there today. I felt like I had better command today, just overall. Obviously the sixth and seventh were really quick innings – were huge.”
Keller said he made a couple of small adjustments after the last three starts. He said it wasn’t anything wild or crazy, just little things here and there and it made a big difference.
“I think the one thing we kind of got spoiled with for five starts is that he pitched about as well as you can pitch, and everybody sets that expectation of that's what you're going to be able to do, and all of the sudden he has a start where he doesn't throw the ball as well, and everybody throws up the flags of what's wrong,” Shelton said. “He continues to bounce back. I mean, even in the starts, he didn't have his best stuff, but he still gave us innings, and that's what guys at the top of rotations do.”
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Jack Suwinski homered for the Pirates first run of the game in the fourth inning, high off the foul pole in right field. Suwinski said he never hit a homer off the pole before, just saw a curveball and pulled the trigger on it. Tucupita Marcano’s single also in the fourth scored Ji Hwan Bae, who had doubled earlier for the other Pirates run.
31-inning shutout streak
Another shutout outing for 20-year-old Anthony Solometo. The High-A left-hander struck out seven while allowing five hits and no walks over four innings. That is 31 straight innings without allowing a run for the Bucs 2021 second-round pick. For the season, Solometo’s ERA is 2.30 and he’s struck out 68 and walked 25 in 58.2 innings.
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1st round homer
2022 first-round pick Termarr Johnson hit his third home run of the season, a three-run shot for Low-A Bradenton on Sunday. Johnson is hitting .240 with a .406 on-base percentage, walking twice against Dunedin.
Up Next
An off-day on Monday, Luis Ortiz starts for the Pirates opening a three-game series in Chicago on Tuesday night and then it’s off to Milwaukee. North Shore Tavern Leadoff Show starts Tuesday at 7p.
"We talked about it two or three days ago,” Shelton said. “It's very strange that we're at June 11, and we have not played two teams in our division. We only played one team in our division three times. It's a chance where we're going to be able to get into the division and see where we're at."