Keone Kela was full of nerves, pacing back and forth in the bullpen before his long-awaited first appearance of the season.

The Pittsburgh Pirates ordained Kela their closer at the start of spring training, but baseball’s shutdown kept him waiting four months to pitch, and a positive test for covid-19 delayed his debut.

Despite giving up two hits and one run, Kela provided a fantastic finish to the ninth inning of the Pirates’ 9-6 victory over the Reds on Thursday night against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.

“It felt foreign in a sense, because I haven’t done it in so long,” Kela said. “Facing guys in live BPs at the ballpark is fun and all, but getting in between those lines with the lights on, where everything matters, it was a good experience. It felt good to know that I still get the jitters playing this game.”

Kela knew that his first time on the mound wasn’t going to be easy, predicting that he would have to earn it. And he certainly did, especially after giving up a 430-foot home run to the first batter he faced, Tucker Barnhart. On a Zoom interview afterward, Kela only could smile, grip the brim of his baseball cap and tilt his head in appreciation.

“I tip my cap to him,” Kela said. “He’s a great ballplayer. I put the ball where I thought I should have put it. He put a good swing on it. He’s a professional. This is what he does for a living.”

Derek Shelton said the same of Kela, especially after the Pirates manager saw the heat he was throwing in his first outing. Shelton initially misjudged the reading of the radar gun, giving pitching coach Oscar Marin a double take once he realized that Kela consistently was hitting the high 90s.

“When I saw it, I thought it was 92 and it was just a get-me-over — and it was 97,” Shelton said. “This guy’s got electric stuff, man. Really good. I was happy to get him back on the field, happy we were able to get him on the field with a little bit of breathing room just so he could get his legs underneath him. But this guy’s stuff is elite.”

Kela said he felt the ball “coming out hot,” so he focused on spotting his pitches and throwing strikes. Of the 28 pitches he threw in the ninth inning, 20 were strikes. But the Reds made him work, as Phillip Ervin fouled off five in an 11-pitch at-bat before singling to left off the glove of third baseman Erik Gonzalez.

Kela got Nick Castellanos on a groundout to catcher Jacob Stallings and Joey Votto to fly ball to left for two outs. With Ervin on second, Kela battled Eugenio Suarez to a full count before throwing a curveball in the dirt that got Suarez to go down swinging and seal the victory.

“It felt good. I wish I would have thrown that to Barnhart,” Kela said, with a laugh. “It felt really good getting out there, getting that first K, bring home a win for the team. Like I said, I had a little bit of nerves up there. It just felt good to get out there. I felt complete after the game finally ended, and I was able to shake Stalls’ (catcher Jacob Stallings) hand. I was able to settle in and remind myself that I’m back.”

Pirates starter Trevor Williams, who earned his first win of the season, was pumped to see Kela provide a putaway for the back end of a bullpen that has been besieged by injuries and blown leads.

“It’s nice to see him back out there, kind of get the blood flowing a little bit to give him the ball in the ninth and we hope that he can continue,” Williams said. “I’m looking forward to him having the ball in his hand in the ninth more often.”

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