PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – For the second consecutive game the Pirates amassed a four-run inning, this one on one swing as the Bucs won their third straight game, beating the Angels 4-1 Monday night. Mitch Keller with a complete game striking out two of the last three.
Pirates left runners on in the first two innings and in the third loaded the bases with no outs. Connor Joe popped up and before fans could really start contemplating not scoring, Edward Olivares took the first pitch from Tyler Anderson and hit it 424 feet for his first career grand slam and a 4-0 lead.
"Full of excitement,” Olivares said through translator/coach Stephen Morales. “As soon as I hit the ball, I knew it had a good chance to go out of the field. And then the most important thing is just trying to help the team win the games."
"Dream come true for sure. I'm pretty happy and it's just a great moment."
“This kid can hit,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “I think we knew that when we acquired him. He’s hit at every level he’s been at. There has been inconsistent playing time for him a little bit for all of the right-handers we are seeing and Connor being as hot has he had. Good swings for Ollie.”
It was the second grand slam of the season, the first by Jack Suwinski at Philadelphia on April 14.
Seemed like Los Angeles would answer in the top of the fourth, a lead off single by Nolan Schanuel and then Mickey Moniak doubled into center. As Schanuel approached third base he didn’t get a clear go or stop signal from third base coach Eric Young and headed home. Schanuel didn’t slide and was tagged out by catcher Joey Bart on a bang-bang play following a nice relay by Oneil Cruz.
“It keeps you in the game,” Keller said. “I came into the dugout and I was like, 'Got lucky once. Finally, I got lucky.' Unbelievable play by Cruz there, and a great tag by Joey. Just keep the focus on there, make the tag. Huge boost there."
Angels could get its only run on a solo home run by Zach Neto in the sixth inning.
Keller best
It was just the second time in Keller’s career that he threw a complete game, doing so against Washington on May 8 of last year. It was a four-hit shutout that night with a walk and eight strikeouts against Washington. Monday night, Keller gave up five hits, one walk, five strikeouts throwing 109 pitches, 78 for strikes. It was obviously the best outing of the season and evened his record to 3-3. His ERA dropped to 4.41 and WHIP to 1.35
"I felt pretty good coming into it,” Keller said. “Pregame bullpen felt good. Like I said, when you get the first 1-2-3 inning, you start feeling pretty good about how your stuff is playing. You get ground balls and you just keep rolling. It just feeds into your confidence."
“In control the whole game, velocity maintained,” Shelton said. “I think the one thing that stood out, he threw a cutter in the ninth to Ward that was 93. That just showed you how sharp his stuff was and how it maintained the entire game. Stay away from the fastball, the fastball was still at 95. With the cutter to still be at 93 that shows how sharp he was tonight.”
While there was a pitcher up in the bullpen in the eighth, it was only as an emergency. Shelton was going to let Keller finish the game.
"I'm super grateful that Shelty, Oscar and everybody let me go back out there,” Keller said. “I was feeling really good. It was probably the best I've felt all year, obviously. Just having the trust in me, because it was a 4-1 game, a save opportunity. Having them trust in me to go out there and finish the job was awesome."
Cruz scare
It was after contact on what would be a two-out single by Cruz in the sixth inning. The 25-year-old slowly jogged down to first as the ball went into right field and leans over on first base. Manager Derek Shelton came out and Cruz did a practice run down the line and stayed in the game and seemed ok as he rounded the bases on a Jared Triolo fly out. He came out for the next inning at shortstop.
“He’s dealing with that ankle that he’s been dealing with for a couple of weeks that he kind of twisted it two weeks ago on a play going up the middle where his spike kind of caught,” Shelton said. “His spike kind of caught again today. We had to check him to make sure. Watching him run from first to third on the fly ball that ended that inning. It assured me he’s in a pretty good spot.”
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