The Pittsburgh Pirates’ most reliable starting pitcher (who isn’t going to the All-Star Game) only lasted three innings on Sunday, but the other players gave Mitch Keller plenty of support during a 9-4 win over the Chicago White Sox.
The win at Guaranteed Rate Field was the Pirates’ fourth consecutive win, their longest winning streak since starting 5–0 at the start of the season, and gave the team momentum entering the All-Star break. Before the game, the Pirates were 6 1/2 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central and 2 1/2 out of the NL’s final wild-card berth.
The Pirates (48-48) haven’t been .500 or better at the break since 2016.
The next test of the Pirates’ ability to stay in the playoff race will come Friday, when the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies, who have the best record in MLB, begin a three-game series at PNC Park.
The biggest blows to the Pirates’ sixth win in the last seven games — and victory in the three-game series — were catcher Joey Bart’s three-run homer in the fourth and Nick Gonzales’ two-run triple in the seventh. Gonzales finally scored on Rowdy Tellez’s sacrifice fly, and Ke’Bryan Hayes and Josh Palacios punctuated the four-run explosion by hitting doubles into the right-center gap.
Hayes had three hits and had more than one hit in three consecutive games, raising his batting average from .227 on June 28 to .244.
Bryan Reynolds hit his 18th home run in the eighth inning, tying his personal best before the All-Star break. The Pirates have scored 40 runs in their last seven games.
Keller left the game after three innings and 57 pitches, giving up two runs, four hits, and three walks with three strikeouts. This ended Keller’s streak of 49 consecutive appearances in five or more innings, which is tied with AJ Burnett for the second-most in franchise history.
Manager Derek Shelton turned to his bullpen, which included Quinn Priester, Kyle Nichols, Carmen Mlodzinski, Collin Holderman and Dennis Santana, giving up two more runs over the final six innings.
The White Sox scored a run in the first inning when Eloy Jiménez grounded into a bases-loaded double play. The first three batters Keller faced reached base when Tommy Pham and Andrew Benintendi singled and Luis Roberto Jr. walked.
Benintendi, who went 3 for 3 with 3 runs scored, hit a home run in the third inning to give the White Sox a 2–1 lead. The Pirates had tied the score at 1–1 in the top of the inning when Reynolds was hit by a pitch and Onil Cruz doubled.
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLIVE reporter who has been covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined TribLIVE in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as a Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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