PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – While the Pittsburgh Pirates are currently scrambling to fix their bullpen struggles, their issues on the hill haven’t been limited to just their relievers in recent games. Usually one of Pittsburgh's most consistent arms, longtime starter Mitch Keller has stumbled into a slump of his own, putting a sizable stain on what started as a strong season for the veteran.
Former MLB starting pitcher and Butler, PA native Matt Clement joined The Fan Morning Show Host Donny Chedrick to break down Keller’s rut and how he can get out of it before it’s too late.
Clement opened by praising Keller’s start to the campaign, stating that he was arguably Pittsburgh’s best starting arm through his first few appearances. But over time, he said Keller began to fall into a pattern of going through his first three-ish innings without allowing a run, only for everything to fall apart from there.
Keller’s statistics match up with that trend. In 2026, he held a whopping 7.20 ERA in the fourth inning and an ERA above 10 in the fifth as of June 22.
“It’s like a disaster has hit him in those games, and that’s something that can wear on you. Mitch is a veteran so he’s fine to get through it, but he needs a night where he’s leading a game 4-0 — hopefully it’s tonight — going into the fifth, and then he turns that into eight innings instead of turning it over to the bullpen. It’s just been an odd year for him,” Clement said.
When asked about the sources of Keller’s rut, Clement claimed it's come from his habit of falling behind in counts too often and hitting or walking far too many batters. Clement also added that Keller hasn’t been very good against lefties, either.
“You make 35 starts as a starter. The way it was explained to me by veteran pitchers early in my career was that 10 of those, you’re going to feel great (about). You need to win eight of them. Maybe you don’t win them on your record, but your team needs to win. There’s going to be 10 you feel lousy, and you gotta figure out a way to be about .500 in those games that you don’t have your stuff or you’re wild like he’s been a little bit. And then the middle ones, they’re going to be your season,”
According to Clement, one of those “middle” games was Keller’s last start against the Athletics on June 16th. After falling behind 4-0 in the first inning, Keller refocused and battled back the rest of the way to give Pittsburgh a chance to come back and steal the game, which it ultimately did in a 6-5 victory. Clement said that the start was easily Keller’s best of the season.
“He grinded that game out. The Pirates needed that game badly, and they came back and won it. Those are the hardest starts to make, those ones where you give those runs in the first inning, when you have all the excitement around your start and then all of a sudden you’re down,” Clement said.
Keller will look to take another step toward climbing out of his latest slump when he and the Pirates host the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night at PNC Park.
“I have faith in Mitch, but this is a tough series. This team (Seattle) is hot. The bullpen’s good, but these three starters are as good as any that are gonna roll in here,” Clement said.
