MIAMI --
The right-hander entered the bottom of the seventh inning at 85 pitches. Interestingly enough, Keller was in the same situation several months prior, having thrown 85 pitches through six innings against the Padres on May 1. On that night, he was pulled. On this night, Keller was sent out for one more frame.\n\nIf Keller, who noted he was unsure if he was going to get the chance to pitch the seventh, was going to get through the frame, he was going to have to be efficient. Efficient he was. He struck out Brian Anderson on three pitches, then got Bryan De La Cruz to ground out after four more. On his first offering to Miguel Rojas, he induced an inning-ending groundout. He’d ended the night on his own terms.\n\n“It's nice to see,” said manager Derek Shelton. “We talk about taking steps and checking boxes, and he definitely did that tonight.”
Of note, Keller’s velocity was noticeably down across the board. His fastball and sinker were 1.7 and 1.4 mph slower, respectively, than his season averages. Keller’s curveball was also 2.3 mph softer than average. Most notably, his slider was a whopping 4.2 mph slower than average. A drastic drop in velocity is typically reason for concern, but this was not the case with Keller.\n\nKeller said he felt good coming out of the start and that he wasn’t worried about the dip in velocity on his four-seamer and sinker. Regarding the slider, which he threw most frequently, Keller attributed his work between starts, noting he wanted to throw his slider more consistently in the strike zone as opposed to making the pitch “as nasty as possible.” That Keller was able to shove without his nastiest stuff serves as a source of confidence in and of itself.\n\n“A comment I made to \\[pitching coach\\] Oscar \\[Marin\\] and \\[game planning and strategy coach\\] Radley \\[Haddad\\] was I wish I had my best stuff tonight, because who knows what could’ve happened,” Keller said.\n\nAdded
Keller was just one of several Pirates who played well in what was a solid all-around win. Kevin Newman not only had three hits, but had a diving play in the fourth inning to take away a hit. Marisnick reached base three times, hit a two-run home run and stole a bag in his first Major League game since May 9.