Pirates' sweep of Boston offers taste of a team with 'a lot of potential'

BOSTON -- The clubhouse was as loud as it had been in some time. 'Get Low' by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz was blaring. Duane Underwood Jr. wanted the ball after getting the save. Colin Holderman danced his way across the room, beverage in hand. The relievers jokingly groaned and heckled when the music had to be turned down for interviews.

For a setting that seemed even colder than the first-pitch-official 41 degrees and only got colder from there, old Fenway Park's visitor's clubhouse was afire by comparison.

In Derek Shelton's first three years managing the Pirates, they completed just one road sweep, that one last May against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. And now, they've picked up their first sweep on the season's first trip, following Mitch Keller's lead, a Carlos Santana home run and still more textbook ball to beat the Red Sox, 4-1, Wednesday afternoon.

And for a team that really wants to -- if not absolutely has to -- take that step forward from a last-place, 100-loss club in 2023, that's the type of spark that can make a difference.

"It's big time," Underwood said. "... I felt we challenged them in every aspect of baseball. I thought we hit the ball well, I thought we stole bases, I thought we pitched the ball well ... you take care of those things as a team, everything should be all right."

Underwood isn't underselling it. On Monday, they needed three home runs to pull out a 7-6 slugfest. On Tuesday, Ji Hwan Bae's spectacular catch against the Green Monster stole the show. And on Wednesday, it was Keller who led the way with seven terrific innings. Three close games, three games where they were able to finish.

Just a hodgepodge of good baseball, to borrow a phrase.

"Tons of great players in this room," Jack Suwinski told me. "A lot of potential. It's exciting to play with these guys and see what they can do."

Keller allowed one run on four hits and two walks while striking out seven and using all six of his pitches effectively, and pretty evenly.

"Just attacking the zone," Keller said. "The cutters to lefties were great. Sinkers were great to righties too. Just filling it up, trying to throw as many strikes as possible. We had a good game plan and got in a rhythm there with [Jason] Delay."

And if there was something else to notice from his pitch chart ...

... it's that he was frequently in the zone. Keller threw 107 pitches, 78 of which were strikes. The last Pirate to throw that many strikes in a game? Gerrit Cole in 2015.

"Mitch was outstanding," Derek Shelton said. "I don’t think we could have asked for anything [more]."

Being able to get a performance like that out of your No. 1 to complete a sweep? That has to be a sign of individual and team growth.

"I think we have a really good team, as you guys have seen," Keller said to the assembled reporters. "We're hitting it really well, we're pitching it really well these past few games. I think it's a testament to how hard we're working and how well we're doing as a team. Just getting into a rhythm, staying together and it's getting really good."

It's just one series, albeit a big one for a team trying to send a message early that they're better. But they know there's plenty of ball to be played.

"The energy is great," Santana said. "We have to keep it up. It’s a long season. The energy is great. We played hard this series. We have to continue doing it."

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Carlos Santana hits his first home run as a Pirate.

• The Red Sox were held to three runs over the series' final 26 innings, moving their manager, Alex Cora, to say, “When you are not scoring runs like the last two days, you’ve got to be on point. Even when you score runs, you’ve got to play better defense. And I think we just make bad decisions. Overall, they kicked our butt. They came to Fenway Park, and they swept us.”

• While Keller carried the pitching, Santana carried the offense, homering for the first time as a Pirate to open the scoring in the fourth and then picking up an RBI double.

He didn't exactly come flying out of the gate, but Santana made better contact in the Red Sox series than he did in the opening Reds series and finally was rewarded for those swings.

"Last night and today, I feel much better, much better getting my pitch," Santana said. "I don’t try too much, making good contact. Doing what I can do."

• Keller's afternoon was almost spoiled by a Reese McGuire fly ball in the seventh that was originally called a game-tying home run, but was eventually overturned by the umpiring crew. More about that in the Freeze Frame.

• I don't have any commentary on this Ke'Bryan Hayes bunt other than that is exactly how to execute a safety squeeze:

Perfect small ball. And that's coming from the analytics nerd.

• It's one road trip, but the bullpen has allowed just four runs over 20 1/3 innings.

"We feed off each other," Underwood said. "We really like each other down. Anytime we can pick each other up and just keep throwing up zeroes, that's all I want."

• Oneil Cruz was removed in the middle of the seventh inning after he collided with Rafael Devers on a bang-bang play at third base. He had his left eye examined while on the field, and the team is evaluating him for a facial injury.

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Oneil Cruz is examined after a collision in the seventh inning.

• Some injury updates from director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk:

They're still learning and making determinations with JT Brubaker (right elbow inflammation) at the moment. The hope is to have more clarity on paths forward for him by the middle of next week.

Jarlín García (elbow) will have new imaging done later next week, where they'll learn more about his prognosis.

Robert Stephenson (elbow) was scheduled to make his third rehab assignment with Class AAA Indianapolis before they were rained out Wednesday. So far, so good.

Jared Triolo had surgery on the hamate bone in his left hand late in March. The anticipated ramp up for full baseball activities is 4-6 weeks.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 15-day injured list: RHP Robert Stephenson (elbow)

• 60-day injured list: RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Oneil Cruz, SS
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
6. Jack Suwinski, RF
7. Rodolfo Castro, 2B
8. Ji Hwan Bae, CF
9. Jason Delay, C

And for Cora's Red Sox:

1. Alex Verdugo, RF
2. Rafael Devers, 3B
3. Justin Turner, DH
4. Masataka Yoshida, LF
5. Triston Casas, 1B
6. Christian Arroyo, 2B
7. Raimel Tapia, CF
8. Yu Chang, SS
9. Connor Wong, C

THE SCHEDULE

The home opener is next. The Pirates are off Thursday and then return to PNC Park Friday to take on the White Sox. Rich Hill (0-1, 5.40) will take on Lucas Giolito (0-0, 3.60), with first pitch coming at 4:12 p.m. DK and I will have you covered.

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE CONTENT

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