Paul DeJong's 2-run homer off Mitch Keller in 3-run 3rd inning lifts Cardinals past Pirates

After a strong spring training that saw him touch triple digits and show off a new weapon in his pitch repertoire, Pittsburgh Pirates starter Mitch Keller was expected to carry his confidence into the regular season.

Keller’s first start came against what appeared to be the perfect opponent, given his success in four career starts against the St. Louis Cardinals: 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA and a .192 batting average against.

Paul DeJong had other ideas.

After striking out on Keller’s sweeping slider in his first at-bat, the Cardinals shortstop drove a high fastball 377 feet into the right-field bullpen for a two-run homer in a three-run third inning to spark a 6-2 win over the Pirates on Saturday afternoon before 45,025 at Busch Stadium.

“I just tip my cap to him,” Keller said. “He got ahold of it.”

After three up-and-down seasons, which included a midseason demotion to Triple-A last year, Keller showed promise in four Grapefruit League starts by going 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA with 12 strikeouts and three walks.

Keller (0-1) showed increased velocity against the Cardinals by averaging 96.2 mph and touching 98.9 on his four-seamer, which he threw on half his 70 pitches, to get eight called strikes and four swinging. He allowed four runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts. He twice blew one-run leads.

“I feel really confident about that,” Keller said of his velocity. “Just knowing that I can throw hard and in the zone, too, that really plays. That just makes all my other pitches a lot better, too. Going forward, I’ll try not to look at the negatives of this outing. A lot of positives. A lot of things I couldn’t control that happened. But a lot of things in my control I thought I did really well, too.”

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the first inning off Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas when 270-pound designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach led off by beating a slow grounder to second base for an infield single and scored on Yoshi Tsutsugo’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly to center for a 1-0 lead. Ben Gamel drew a walk to load the bases again for Cole Tucker, who worked Mikolas to a 3-2 count on nine pitches before flying out to left to end the threat.

“We kind of let him off the hook,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He threw 41 pitches, and Tuck had a good at-bat. He grinded him, but the fact that we didn’t capitalize early with more runs, that definitely affected us.”

The Cardinals tied it in the bottom of the first. Dylan Carlson led off with a single, then stole second base. Initially ruled out by second base umpire Dan Merzel, the call was overturned on video review after the Cardinals challenged. It would prove to hurt the Pirates after Tyler O’Neill drew a walk and Nolan Arenado hit a sharp grounder down the third-base line for a double to score Carlson and make it 1-1.

The Cardinals threatened again when Corey Dickerson hit a short bouncer to third, but Hayes fielded it and fired a throw to catcher Roberto Perez to get O’Neill out at the plate. Keller escaped the first-and-third jam by striking out DeJong with the sweeping slider.

Hayes doubled to the right-center gap in the third, scoring on an opposite-field single by lefty slugger Tsutsugo to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. It wouldn’t last long as the Cardinals answered with an RBI single by Arenado and the two-run shot by DeJong to take a 4-2 lead.

Keller finished with a 1-2-3 fourth inning, striking out the final two batters he faced, Carlson and Paul Goldschmidt.

“The one thing that stands out to me really as a positive sign as we move forward, last year the fourth inning for Mitch would not have been good,” Shelton said. “He was able to harness himself. This is a good lineup. Let’s not kid ourselves. These guys can hit. If you don’t execute pitches, they’re going to do damage.”

The Pirates turned to righty Roansy Contreras, who was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis after Duane Underwood Jr. (right hamstring strain) was placed on the 10-day injured list. Contreras gave up a double down the left-field line to Arenado, who was 4 for 4 with three doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored. Arenado scored when Dickerson’s grounder bounced off the glove of second baseman Josh VanMeter for a 5-2 Cardinals lead.

Contreras walked DeJong and hit Harrison Bader with a pitch to load the bases but got Tommy Edman to pop out to Hayes in foul territory to escape the bases-loaded jam. With two outs and Goldschmidt at second in the sixth, Heath Hembree replaced Contreras and got Arenado to hit a pop fly down the right-field line. Tucker came charging in for the catch, but the ball hit the palm of his glove and popped out, allowing Goldschmidt to score and make it 6-2.

A highlight for the Pirates came in the seventh inning, when rookie infielder Diego Castillo got a pinch-hit double to right-center for his first major-league hit with his family members in attendance. That led to the pinch-hit Pirates debut of veteran outfielder Jake Marisnick, who was signed on Opening Day. But the Cardinals brought in Ryan Helsley, who struck Marisnick out with runners on second and third.

Keller is hoping to build off the successes of his first start instead of dwelling on the negatives.

“There were definitely a little first-game nerves,” Keller said. “I was a little erratic, but I felt I pulled it together the last two batters of the (first) inning. From there, I felt really good with where I was at. They do have a really good lineup. They do things really well over there. They put the ball in play, and they wait for their pitches.”