Keller carries out a 'different intensity' in complete-game gem

Compared to some of his past starts, Joey Bart didn’t see the same version of Mitch Keller on Monday night. 

There was something different about him. In a good way.

“He came out with a different intensity than he has in the past few starts," Bart said. "You could kinda tell."

The intensity Bart saw in Keller translated to him attacking hitters, inducing a handful of groundouts with his sinker at the forefront of his pitch usage and tossing his second career complete game in the Pirates' 4-1 victory over the Angels at PNC Park.

"He set the tone, he established what he needed to establish and things just went quick. Before we knew it, we were almost there," Bart added. 

Keller allowed one run on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts in a nine-inning effort that came just shy of a year after his previous complete-game performance against the Rockies on May 8, 2023. In that outing, Keller tossed a four-hit shutout while walking one and striking out eight. 

“The game’s just crazy. The ball can feel weird in your hand at times and things don’t feel synced up, but tonight it feels like we got a lot from him obviously with what he did with the complete game," Bart said. "It just seemed like -- you can tell as a catcher -- the ball was feeling good in his hand, he’s spinning the ball, he’s doing the things that he does and to do what he did tonight shows you a lot about how he’s feeling and the effort he gave us.” 

The lone blemish on Keller's line came with one out in the sixth inning. He threw a 1-0 cutter low and away to Zach Neto, who hammered it for a solo home run to center field: 

Still, Derek Shelton was impressed with the way Keller stayed in control the whole game, all while maintaining increased velocity in all of his pitches. Keller threw 109 pitches -- a mix that included 34 sinkers, 31 fastballs, 23 cutters and 18 sweepers. He averaged a mile per hour more on his sinker (94.1mph), fastball (95.2) and cutter (89.7) than he has all season long. 

“I think the one thing that stood out, he threw a cutter in the ninth to (Taylor) Ward that was 93," Shelton noted. "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.

“I think that’s the best we’ve seen his mix. There were a couple of games last year where he had similar mix, but I think today it was the best we’ve seen it and the best we’ve seen it maintained. It maintained with all four pitches through the game.”

Quick innings were key, too. Keller threw 11 or less pitches in four innings and was at 15 or higher on three occasions. His highest total came in a 16-pitch ninth in which he struck out a pair and induced a game-sealing flyout to center field. 

"He got quick outs, he was in the zone. I think that’s the biggest thing," Shelton said. "We talked pregame, the difference between the Philly game, the Detroit game, games he pitched over the last couple of weeks. He was in attack mode and by doing that, he kind of put them back on defense a little bit.”

But it wasn't just that Keller was working quickly while clearly bringing it with every pitch in his arsenal. His ability to induce ground ball outs with his sinker was crucial to his success, too, as Angels hitters grounded out on 14 occasions. Keller benefitted from two big double plays in the third and fifth innings as well. 

"I think we just identified that the sinker was playing earlier in the game and just kinda went with it," Keller said. "We got some really good swings that we liked, really good contact that we liked and just kept rolling with it until it changed, but it never really did. So we just kept rolling with it and it was able to get us some really early count, weak contact."

Keller got all the run support he needed with one swing of the bat in the third inning. Edward Olivares was the man to deliver the big hit as he followed a walk to Andrew McCutchen, a double by Bryan Reynolds and another free pass to Ke'Bryan Hayes with a no-doubter to left field for a grand slam that made it 4-0: 

It was the first career grand slam for Olivares, who added a second-inning double to finish with two of the Pirates' six hits. 

"It's a huge boost," Keller said of Olivares' clutch homer. "We've been struggling obviously. Just to break it open there, I think we had base runners on a lot of the innings, and for Olivares to just crank one out there, it lifted everyone in the dugout. It was a huge energy boost that we needed." 

Bart acknowledges the fact that he's spent a limited amount of time in a Pirates uniform, but he continues to see why Keller earned All-Star recognition a year ago. His complete-game showing was just the latest, and perhaps most notable, example of what he's capable of bringing every fifth day.

"He’s an elite-level starter," Bart said. "I haven’t been here a long time, but I’ve figured that out. He showed everybody tonight.”