Mitch Keller deserved to be credited with a win following an outing in which he threw seven-plus innings of scoreless ball this afternoon. Instead, his strong showing resulted in a no-decision due in large part to the Pirates' inability to generate sufficient offensive support.

"The guy’s pitching into the (eighth). It doesn’t matter how many runs you give up, if you pitch that late into the game, you’re helping the team out," Joey Bart said. "For him to put zeroes up all day was unbelievable. Just keep building confidence and keep it moving.”

While Pirates hitters were held to just one hit during Keller's time on the mound, he did his part in overcoming a lackluster performance in the team's home opener, a game in which he allowed seven runs over 3 2/3 innings against the Yankees. On this day, he surrendered four hits and a walk while striking out six. He was incredibly efficient, especially in the early going, delivering first-pitch strikes to eight of the first 14 batters he faced and throwing just 39 pitches through his first four innings. His efficiency was so stellar that Derek Shelton said he would have went out for the ninth inning had this been a game later in the year. 

"Just got to look at the growth I think I've made as being able to flush it. I just have the most confidence in myself that one bad start doesn't define who you are as a player or as a person or anything like that," Keller said. "Going out there every time just doing the best that I can. Having that freedom in my brain and in my mind, just really lets me go and flush bad ones and good ones. After tonight, it's on to the next one." 

In putting together one of his more efficient outings in recent memory, Keller also reached a historic milestone with his 700th career strikeout. He reached the plateau with a seventh-inning strikeout of Pedro Pagés. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, Keller is the fastest pitcher in club history to reach 700 strikeouts with Pittsburgh by innings pitched (718 1/3). The previous record was held by Bob Veale, who took 740 innings to reach it. Keller is also the third-fastest pitcher in team history to reach 700 strikeouts by games (136), behind only Gerrit Cole (123) and Veale (135).

"It's really cool. An exciting stat. It feels like just yesterday I made my debut, so to think 700 strikeouts later, yeah, it's kind of crazy to be honest," Keller said. "Really happy about it. More excited about the team win today. Glad we grinded that one out. That was a crazy ballgame, but I'm glad we finished with a W instead of losing."