#Pirates score series#

It was also encouraging to see Keller finish the game strong as his final inning was his best. DeJong’s home run then came with two outs and had it been hit more toward center field it would have been a routine fly out to end the inning. By no means was it an easy play, but it’s one Hayes would say he should make. Hayes failed to field a 50/50 ball at third base that put Paul Goldschmidtt on to start the inning. The 3rd inning was also a big of a tough luck inning for Keller. Keller put a foot down and, with some assistance from Ke’Bryan Hayes, got the final two outs of the inning without allowing another run. Three of the first four Cardinal batters of the game reached base, tying the game at 1 and giving them runners on second and third. He overcame things that in the past would have led to Keller coming unraveled.

Keller’s stuff looked great and he looked confident on the mound. He thew 63% of his 70 pitches for strikes, generated 8 whiffs, and his fastball had a ridiculous amount of spine and movement, something that was not always there in the past. Keller’s fastball sat in the high-90s and maxed out at 98.9 MPH. However, he pitched better than his final line and continued a lot of the good things he showed in spring training. In his season debut he allowed 4 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, a home run, and 4 strikeouts. Mitch Keller started for the Pittsburgh Pirates and his final line was nothing special.

Mitch Keller pitches better than his final line Pittsburgh left 11 runners on base and went just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and one of the hits was Hayes’s 1st inning single that just loaded the bases and did not plate a run. This indeed proved to be a wasted opportunity that would come back to burn them as the game went on, it was also the start of struggles with runners on base.

When the Pirates only mustered 1 run in the 1st inning it felt like a wasted opportunity. A walk by Ben Gamel reloaded the bases before Tucker flew out. Daniel Vogelbach reached on an infield hit to start the game and continued to weaponize his speed by scoring on a Yoshi Tsutsugo sacrifice fly, the first of a pair of RBI for Tsutsugo, with the bases loaded and no one out. In that 1st inning the Pirates were only able to strike for 1 run off of Mikolas despite loading the bases twice and making him throw 40 pitches. Mikolas got Tucker to fly out to left field, ending the inning and extending his day. When Mikolas fired a two-out 3-2 pitch to Cole Tucker with the bases loaded, he may have been down to his final batter. By the end of the inning they had Mikolas on the ropes with the bullpen getting ready. The Pirates made Cardinal starter Miles Mikolas throw 40 pitches in the 1st inning.

#Pirates score series#

They will now look to avoid losing the series on Sunday. Louis Cardinals 6-2 at Busch Stadium, falling to 0-2 on the season. Unfortunately, the Pirates were unable to capitalize on these opportunities. They had ample opportunities to score runs, which included an opportunity to blow the game wide open in the 1st inning. Saturday afternoon was a frustrating one for the Pittsburgh Pirates. 6 While the Pittsburgh Pirates are not expected to be very good this season an 0-2 start is still no fun