PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was a time where the pitching matchup lived up to the hype, then the Pirates busted it open in the seventh in an inning helped by a walk, two hit batters and five singles in a 7-1 win over San Diego Wednesday night.
Padres starter Blake Snell struck out 10 Pirates over six innings, but gave up a two-out home run to Carlos Santana in the first inning as the Pirates took a lead they never relinquished.
Pirates ace Mitch Keller gave up four hits, walked two and struck out five giving up only a run over six innings. San Diego scoring it’s only run on a two-out single by Xander Boegarts in the fifth inning. It was a bit of a rocky start for Keller through the first two innings and then an honest conversation with catcher Austin Hedges changed the night.
“He’s giving you exactly what you got,” Keller said. “He’s not giving you what you want to hear, he’s giving you want needs to be said and the adjustment that needs to be made. The Padres were looking soft two strikes a lot, that’s been our game plan. He recognized that pretty early and that was the flip of the switch right there. Let’s get some quick outs, use the sinker, four-seam, cutter a lot more that we were.”
“He gave up the one run on the two-out hit to Bogaerts, but other than that, the second inning we had kind of changed the execution of the game plan,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “He got back in the strike zone. Early in the game he just wasn’t in the zone.”
Even with the early struggles Keller won his ninth game of the season and seemed to ride through a few rough patches to give up one run in three of his last four starts. The ERA for the season at 3.34 and the WHIP is 1.10.
“Stability, confidence, when it’s his start day, you have to win Mitch’s starts,” said Pirates outfielder Connor Joe. “We got to provide enough offense to win his starts. He’s been awesome. A chance to win every game he pitches.”
Joe finished with a pair of RBI as part of a five-run seventh inning, Henry Davis also had a two-run single in that frame.
"I think it's just about getting the next man up,” Davis said, now with a six-game hitting streak. “That's winning baseball, whether it's a good at-bat or the guy who sees a lot of pitches sets up the next guy. It's not always about reaching base or getting hits. Move guys over, run the pitch count a little bit, let the guy behind you see more pitches. Little things like that all add up."
A Bucs team last in the National League in runs scored has pounded the NL’s best team ERA for 16 runs in the first two games. Pirates earned a first series win since June 9-11 against the Mets and going for a first sweep since June 2-4 against St. Louis.
1st MLB hit
Two in as many nights, Jared Triolo’s line-drive single to left in the eighth inning was his first Major League hit in his fourth at bat. The previous inning he scored his first run after being hit by a pitch.
“Yeah, I mean, it's awesome, especially because my parents are here,” Triolo said. “It's the first Pirates game they've been to, so it was awesome. But yeah, they say the first is the hardest, right? So, it was great."
Nick Gonzales had his first MLB hit and run scored during Tuesday’s win over San Diego.
Hazy
Pirates played their game with San Diego despite air quality warnings due to the wildfires in Canada. Shelton said he told players with allergy or asthma conditions to communicate with the team about their issues.
“We’ve been talking about this since early this morning, Major League Baseball is involved,” Shelton said. “The Players Association is involved. I think everybody has the concern and the health of not only the players, but the people attending the game at the forefront of their mind. Just a lot of constant communication.”
Related
Rehab moves
Ji Man Choi finished his rehab assignment and hit a two-run homer and a sacrifice fly in his first appearance at AAA Indianapolis on Wednesday. Also to Indy is left-handed pitcher Rob Zastryzny. He started the game and gave up a solo home run and nothing else in his one inning of work.
Choi is the fifth major league rehabber assigned to Indy on six different assignments this season, joining Zastryzny (May 16) and right-handed pitchers Chase De Jong, Robert Stephenson and Vince Velasquez.
Up Next
Former Pirates starter Joe Musgrove (6-2. 3.88 ERA) against RHP Luis Ortiz (2-3, 3.74 ERA) with Josh Rowntree starting the North Shore Tavern Pregame Show at 11:30a and then first-pitch at 12:35p both on 100.1 FM and AM 1020 KDKA. Pirates also announced Osvaldo Bido would make another start, Friday against the Brewers.