Pittsburgh Pirates: Starting Pitching Steps Up in Series Victory

Over the weekend the Pittsburgh Pirates picked up their first series victory of the 2021 season and a big reason was the performance of their starting rotation

Through their first three series of the 2021 season the Pittsburgh Pirates are 1-2 in series played and own an overall record of 3-6. This past weekend the Pirates hosted Chicago Cubs in their first series of the season at PNC Park.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were able to take two of three from the Cubs on their way to their first series victory of the young season. A driving force behind the series victory was the performance of the team’s starting pitcher. This series was, by far, the best of the first three for Pirate starting pitchers.

In the first two series of the season the Pirates were defeated both times and owned an overall record of 1-5. In those six games the team’s starting pitchers averaged just 3.8 innings per start, while posting a 7.43 ERA, walking 18 batters, striking out 24 and allowing 5 home runs. It goes without saying that this is not good enough.

Starting with the team’s home opener this past Thursday the starting rotation stepped up against the Cubs. This was a major driving force behind the Pittsburgh Pirates winning the final two games of the series and picking up the series victory.

While the Pirates were defeated 4-2 in their home opener, starting pitcher Tyler Anderson pitched well. Anderson allowed just 3 runs, he did not walk a batter, allowed a pair of home runs and struck out 5 in 5.1 innings of work.

Mitch Keller took the ball Saturday night for an important start. Potentially facing a make or break season in 2021, the former top 50 prospect walked 4 batters and allowed 3 runs in just 3 innings pitched in his first start of the season. Saturday night Keller bounced back in a big way, turning in one of the most promising starts of his MLB career.

After issuing a walk and allowing that runner to score on a Kris Bryant double in the 1st inning, Keller settled in and cruised. The righty went on to pitch 5 innings, allowing just that 1st inning run on 5 hits, a walk, no home runs and 7 strikeouts.

Facing a strong Cub lineup Keller looked confident and calm on the mound. He located his fastball well, which has long been an issue for Keller, and had a plus breaking pitch working. If the Pittsburgh Pirates can start to get that Keller regularly everyone will be happy.

Finally, Sunday afternoon, JT Brubaker turned in the best start of the season thus far from a Pirate pitcher. In 5.1 innings of work Brubaker allowed just 4 hits, walked a batter and struck out 4. The lone run he allowed was a 2nd inning solo home run by Willson Contreras.

Brubaker also drove in 3 runs at the plate in Sunday’s 7-1 victory. Brubaker, like Keller, is a young starting pitcher that the Pittsburgh Pirates remain high on. Through his first two starts this season he has posted a 1.93 ERA and struck out 10 batters in 9.1 innings pitched. Getting Brubaker to take a step forward as a starting pitcher, which he appears to be doing, would be a huge plus for the Pirates this season.

Overall, Pirate starting pitchers logged 15.2 innings of work against the Cubs this series. Averaging over 5 innings per start an improvement over the 3.8 innings per start they averaged in the first two series of the season.

In those 15.2 innings of work they allowed 5 runs (2.96 ERA), allowed just a pair of home runs and struck out 16 batters. If the Pirates can continue to get this type of performance from their starting pitchers moving forward it will only lead to positive things. It would mean young arms such as Keller and Brubaker are taking steps forward, while a veteran like Anderson raises his trade value.