In final spring appearance, Pirates’ Mitch Keller finally has scoreless outing

In his final appearance of spring training, Mitch Keller finally produced a scoreless outing — even if an old bugaboo reared its head to haunt him.

Keller walked four of the 14 batters he faced but did not allow an extra-base hit and no Baltimore Orioles scored over the first three innings of Sunday’s game. Keller lowered his Grapefruit League ERA to 11.91 during a 2-1 win at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla.

Keller allowed at least two runs during each of his four previous spring outings, including 12 (11 earned) over 5 1/3 innings during his past two appearances. After walking 18 over 21 2/3 innings last regular season, Keller finished Grapefruit League play with eight walks in 11 1/3 innings. He walked two during each of his first two innings Sunday.

Ready for takeoff pic.twitter.com/3ovsKYJBTB

— Pirates (@Pirates) March 28, 2021

The Pirates, though, had scored during the top half of each of those two innings, ignited again by one of their projected starting middle infielders. A day after probable Opening Day shortstop Kevin Newman increased his spring average to .714 by going 3 for 4, everyday second baseman Adam Frazier bumped his Grapefruit League average to .553 by going 2 for 4.

“(Hitting over .500) definitely puts you in a good mood,” Frazier said during a video conference call with media after the game. “There’s a lot of talk. Going around to guys, asking different things about setup, what you’re doing, cues, little things like that. You see guys hitting the baseball, something might click for you.”

Frazier led off Sunday’s game with a double off of Matt Harvey, his 10th extra-base hit of the spring. Frazier scored on a Troy Stokes Jr. single, and he drove in a run the following inning when his single scored Oneil Cruz.

Frazier is tied for second among MLB players in extra-base hits this spring. The Pirates entered Sunday second among Grapefruit League teams in batting average, doubles and runs.

“It’s definitely contagious, but … yeah, I might be hitting .500, but I’m still trying to catch Kevin Newman hitting .700,” Frazier said. “I feel like everybody is in that same boat where you see everyone else getting hits, and you can get hits, too.”

Disappointed by their hitting in 2020, Pirates middle infielders Adam Frazier and Kevin Newman both made adjustments that are serving them well.https://t.co/8j4ZAfqcpR

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) March 19, 2021

Three projected members of the season-opening bullpen (Michael Feliz, Sam Howard and Rule 5 pick Luis Oviedo) combined for three hitless innings and five strikeouts for the Pirates, who finish Grapefruit League play with a home-and-home series Monday and Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins before a travel day in advance of the season opener in Chicago.

Also of note Sunday was the Pirates’ top pitching prospect, Quinn Priester, made his second (and final) appearance of the spring for the big club. The 20-year-old — the Pirates’ first-round pick in 2019 — walked three of the five batters he faced during the eighth inning.

Pirates pitchers allowed only two hits Sunday. They had 10 strikeouts, including two in the ninth from Nick Mears.

After a 3-15-2 spring record last year, the Pirates (13-13-1) can clinch a nonlosing spring season with a win in either of their final two games. Their most recent winning Grapefruit League season was in 2017.

“Everybody is pretty comfortable with each other,” Frazier said. “I think we’ll keep continuing to grow as we move into the regular season.”

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