Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller believes he’s starting to turn the corner after his latest outing.
Keller has been struggling as of late, but on Tuesday, he looked like his old self against the Seattle Mariners. The right-hander went six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, while he struck out four, as Keller believes there are positives to be taken away from it.
“Definitely a lot of positives from the way it’s been going,” Keller said postgame on Tuesday. “… Getting back to what I’m good at. I throw six different pitches, and using those to get ahead, rather than just handcuffing myself to a couple, just keeping it open.”
Keller was also efficient with his pitch count was at just 76 pitches through six innings. He went into the seventh and gave up a double before a go-ahead home run to Cole Young and a walk before he was removed from the game.
“We thought about [going to Montgomery],” manager Don Kelly said. “Mitch pitched so well up until that point, and we had Montgomery ready for later. We were trying to get Mitch through [Victor] Robles. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, but he had pitched so well up until that point. Trusting him to go back out.”
The Pirates ended up losing 3-2 and fell to 39-40 on the season.