Pittsburgh Pirates: Mitch Keller, Bullpen Struggle in 12-8 Loss

On a night that saw Pirate pitchers struggles, as well as what proved to be a costly 9th error, the Pittsburgh Pirates were defeated by the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night

Tuesday was a busy day at PNC Park. For the Pittsburgh Pirates, this began prior to the first pitch of game one of their three-game series against the divisional rival Milwaukee Brewers. Prior to first pitch on Tuesday the Pirates placed three players, including superstar center fielder Bryan Reynolds, on the injured list.

Unfortunately, once the game started, things continued to go south for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite entering the bottom of the 6th inning with the game tied at 4, the Pirates found themselves as 12-8 losers on Tuesday night. with the loss they are now 8-9 overall on the season, which includes being 0-4 against the Brewers.

Mitch Keller fails to build on strong start

Last time out, which was also against the Brewers, Mitch Keller turned in arguably the best start of his MLB career. Tuesday night Keller was looking to build upon this as he once again squared off against the Brew Crew.

Unfortunately, Keller failed ot duplicate his success. He walked Kolten Wong to start the game before allowing a 2-run home run to Willy Adames. Just like that Keller and the Pittsburgh Pirates were trailing 2-0.

Keller appeared to potentially be settling in until he got into trouble in the 5th inning. With two outs in the 5th inning Wong reached on a bunt. This was followed by a 2-run double by Adames, making the score 4-1 Brewers and ending Keller’s night.

In 4.2 innings pitched Keller allowed 4 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks and the home run by Adames. He struck out just 1 batter and generated 6 swings-and-misses, both big steps backward form his last start. Just when there appeared to be hope that Keller might have found something the frustration continues.

Pirate bullpen implodes in the 6th inning

After the Pirates battled back to tie the game at 4, the bullpen came unglued in the 6th inning. So far this season the bullpen had been a major strength for the Bucs, Tuesday night, however, that was not the case.

Aaron Fletcher, who got the final out of the 5th inning, started the 6th inning by striking out Andrew McCutchen before allowing a single to Rowdy Tellez, Tyrone Taylor tripled, Omar Narváez singled, and it was 6-4 Brewers.

Fletcher was then lifted for Heath Hembree. After Hembree struck out Lorenzo Cain he allowed back-to-back base hits before giving up a moonshot to Willy Adames. The 2nd home run of the night by Adames made the score 10-4 Brewers.

Through the first 16 games of the season the bullpen has been a strength for the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, when a bullpen is asked to cover as many innings as the Pirate bullpen has sooner or later a night like this will happen.

Shelton going to arguably his two worst relievers in Fletcher (9.00 ERA, 6.32 FIP) and Hembree (6.43 ERA, 7.78 FIP) in this situation did not help either. Shelton has done an excellent job managing the bullpen this season, but leaving Fletcher out there to start the 6th inning was a poor decision by Shelton. But, again, with how much Wil Crowe, Dillon Peters, Chris Stratton, and David Bednar have pitched already this season, as well as Anthony Banda going on the injured list earlier in the day, it’s understandable why Shelton was attempting to get some outs from Fletcher.

Night of debuts

After being promoted from Double-A Altoona prior to the start of the game due to Reynolds being placed on the COVID-19 injured list, Jack Suwinski started in right field for the Pirates. Making his MLB debut Suwinski went 1-for-5, reached on an error and scored his first MLB run in what will undoubtedly be a memorable night for him.

Right-handed pitcher Beau Sulser took the mound for his MLB debut in the top of the 7th inning. In his first MLB inning Sulser retired the Brewers in order, which included a pair of strikeouts. Sulser went on to retire the first 7 batters he faced before allowing a base hit to Adames.

After Sulser allowed another hit and Tellez was intentionally walked, an error by Michael Chavis led to an 11th Brewer run scoring which brought Sulser’s night to an end. In his MLB debut Sulser allowed just 2 hits while striking out 4 in 2.2 innings pitched.

While it was not his MLB debut, utility man Tucupita Marcano made his Pirate debut as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning. Marcano ripped a double which led to him coming around to score on a sacrifice fly by Hayes.

Replacing Sulser to get the final out of the 9th inning was lefty Sam Howard. Making his 2022 season debut, Howard would allow a run-scoring hit to Narváez. Although, Marcano threw out Tellez attempting to score to end the inning.

Pirate offense goes down swinging

While the Pittsburgh Pirates came up short on Tuesday night their offense never quit.

Entering the bottom of the 7th inning the Pirates trailed 10-4. Ke’Bryan Hayes, who had a huge game going 3-for-3 with a walk and a RBI, doubled to start the inning, Ben Gamel walked, Diego Castillo walked, and the bases were loaded. This set up a sacrifice fly by Chavis that made the score 10-5.

Following Suwinski reaching on an error and Marcano hitting a double to start the bottom of the 8th, a RBI groundout by Daniel Vogelbach and a sacrifice fly by Hayes cut the Milwaukee lead to 10-7.

Yoshi Tsutsugo and Castillo had back-to-back singles to start the 9th inning. Roberto Perez reached on a fielder’s choice to cut the score to 12-8, and Suwinski singled. This led to Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell going to Josh Hader who struck out Marcano looking on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.

Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for 6:35 PM ET on Wednesday night. Bryse Wilson (6.35 ERA, 6.42 FIP) is scheduled to start for the Pirates while the Brewers are scheduled to send left Aaron Ashby (3.18 ERA, 4.30 FIP) to the mound.