PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The Pirates have two wins in their last twelve games, both were starts by Mitch Keller. A career-high for Keller as the Pirates beat Baltimore 4-0 Sunday afternoon.
The Pirates righty threw 93 pitches over seven innings, an amazing 70 for strikes which led to a career-high 13 strikeouts.
“Getting in the zone and feeling comfortable with everything and trying to throw as many strikes as possible,” Keller told Josh Rowntree on the Going Home Post-Game Show on 93.7 The Fan. “Trying to command the ball in the zone, trying to get to two strikes and once I get to two strikes, trying to put them away, get weak contact or punch them out.”
“Just execution of pitches, again just saw all the weapons working,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “It’s a good Orioles lineup, the fact he was able to execute on both sides of the plate stands out.”
Shelton said in his last two starts, last Monday a complete-game shutout against Colorado, and then the Sunday win against Baltimore is one of those rare times for a pitcher where every pitch is working. It starts though with being able to put the heater wherever he wanted.
“That was a lot of fun to watch,” said Pirates broadcaster Matt Capps on the Going Home Post Game Show on 93.7 The Fan. “After the first inning, I took my headset off and told Greg (Brown), that might be the only hit (a bunt single) he gives up.”
“He was in command of everything. Felt like he had control of any pitch he wanted to throw. The fastball command was the best of any game in baseball all year. His ability to command the fastball to the glove side, in to left-handed hitters and away to right-handed hitters, was incredible.”
Capps told 93.7 The Fan early in his career Keller was trying to trick guys and now he’s just going after them. He trusts his stuff and feels like he can compete with anybody. He’s flipped the script on his career.
Keller said he does have confidence in every pitch he throws right now. He’s also betting on himself with any batter he may face.
“I think he’s extremely confident,” Shelton said. “The biggest thing is, we’ve talked about the fundamental adjustments, the mechanical adjustments or the pitch-mix adjustments, the biggest thing I see is the look in his eyes. Before it was like ‘am I going to execute a pitch’, now it’s like ‘I’m going to execute a pitch’. I think the mental maturity there is a really huge step.”
Twice when his team was dealing with losing streaks, Keller stopped them. It didn’t lead to anything after his complete game last week, we’ll see on Tuesday how it impacts the team’s results. But he’s given them a chance. Keller did what ace’s do, he led his team to a win.
The 27-year-old, who was sent to the bullpen at this time last year to figure things out, is also one of the leading pitchers in all of baseball. His ERA (2.38) is now fifth in the National League. His five wins are second in the NL. He’s allowed only four home runs and in third in all of baseball in strikeouts-more than Shohei Ohtani, Gerrit Cole, Shane McClanahan, Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale.
Keller will start again next Sunday at home against Arizona. It already feels like a win.