Red Sox jump to early lead to top Pirates, as Mitch Keller leaves with right shoulder fatigue

The Pittsburgh Pirates knew something was wrong with Mitch Keller even before the right-hander couldn’t get an out against the first six Boston Red Sox batters he faced.

Keller wasn’t in pain so much as he was feeling and showing signs of fatigue, which sapped speed from his fastball, spin from his slider and left him vulnerable to hard hits.

After Keller allowed four earned runs on five hits and three walks with one strikeout in two innings — his shortest outing of the season — Pirates manager Derek Shelton finally pulled the plug on his starter.

That the Red Sox had to hold on for a 5-3 win Tuesday night before 19,387 at PNC Park was a testament to a bullpen that pitched seven no-hit innings and a bases-clearing double by Ben Gamel in the eighth inning before the Pirates stumbled to their fifth consecutive loss.

Afterward, the primary concern was Keller’s health.

“Really didn’t like the way he was moving down the mound. As good as his tempo has been and the attack mode that he’s been in all year, it just did not look the same,” Shelton said. “He said he didn’t have any pain, but after the second inning, going through it, just didn’t want to risk it because he’s thrown the ball really well. I personally didn’t like the way he was moving. …

“I think the good thing is there is no pain. But when you start to see as well as he’s transitioned over the last eight weeks and moved down the mound, it did not look clean to me.”

The Pirates already are dealing with injuries to key players. They are playing without All-Star closer David Bednar (lower back tightness) and placed third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes (mid-back strain) on the 10-day injured list just hours before first pitch.

No wonder Red Sox broadcaster Dennis Eckersley went viral after describing the Pirates’ no-name lineup as a “hodgepodge of nothingness.”

It didn’t help when 2021 All-Star Bryan Reynolds was ejected after going ballistic when home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz called him out looking at a third strike with one out and the bases loaded in the eighth inning. Gamel followed with a bases-clearing double off John Schreiber to cut it to 5-3.

The big story, however, was Keller leaving the game with right shoulder fatigue.

“What really stood out was the breaking ball,” Shelton said of Keller. “Just did not think it was as sharp. The curveball really looked like it got really big. We’ve seen his breaking ball be really tight. When it started to get really big, then the velocity decrease on that was what was more concerning to me.”

Keller’s short start is a concern for a rotation depleted by the Jose Quintana trade, even with right-hander Roansy Contreras returning from Triple-A Indianapolis to start Wednesday. Since July, Keller had allowed 10 earned runs in 37 innings over six starts, with a stretch of five consecutive quality starts snapped Aug. 10 in a 6-4 win at Arizona.

Keller had command issues while throwing 18 strikes on 30 pitches in the first inning. The Red Sox loaded the bases for cleanup hittter Alex Verdugo, whose single to right scored Tommy Pham for a 1-0 lead. Christian Arroyo singled to center to score Rafael Devers to make it 2-0.

Eric Hosmer hit a pop fly that shortstop Oneil Cruz chased into shallow left field only to drop it, allowing J.D. Martinez to score for a 3-0 Red Sox lead. Shelton credited Cruz for the effort, blaming a bad read and jump by left fielder Tucupita Marcano. A Kike Hernandez sacrifice fly drove in Verdugo to make it 4-0 before Keller got Reese McGuire to ground into a double play.

“I feel like everybody in the building who was watching knew that my velo was a little bit down and I was hanging sliders,” Keller said. “Usually if those sliders are down and away, they’re ground balls, but they were up in the zone, so got hit a little bit harder for drives in the gap and lost some long outs.”

The Pirates sent their trainers to check on Keller in the second inning, after he surrendered a single to Pham and walked Martinez with two outs. Once again, Keller’s defense let him down.

Reynolds dropped a Verdugo fly ball at the warning track, an error that allowed Pham to score for a 5-0 edge. It was the first error by Reynolds since June 18, 2021, snapping a 180-game streak of errorless outfield play. The stretch of 1,483⅓ innings was nine games shy of Andrew McCutchen’s team-record 189.

A Gold Glove finalist last year, Reynolds entered the game with minus-9 defensive runs saved, the worst among center fielders. His frustration would ultimately get the best of him with the ejection.

“It was just a buildup of different things,” Reynolds said, “and it came out there.”

Keller was pulled after throwing 46 pitches (28 strikes) in two innings – pitch count/strikes numbers that Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta matched through three one-hit, scoreless innings. Using a four-seamer that drew 22 swings and 11 called strikes, Pivetta allowed one hit and three walks while striking out six in seven innings.

“He executed pretty much everything,” Shelton said, noting the effectiveness of Pivetta’s slider. “He came at us and commanded the zone the entire time.”

As for Keller, Shelton said he made the decision to “get him out for his sake.” Keller was at a loss to describe why he felt tired, the velocity was down to 92.7 mph on his sinker and his curveballs weren’t sharp.

“I wanted to stay out there, but wasn’t my decision,” Keller said. “Definitely one of those nights where I didn’t have it. Whole body just didn’t feel great. Just felt out of whack, out of sync. I don’t know.”

Chase De Jong replaced Keller and retired the next nine batters in order on 26 pitches (20 strikes) before walking Hosmer to start the sixth on his way to a season-high four scoreless innings. Austin Brice pitched a clean eighth and Manny Banuelos struck out the side in the ninth.

Per the Elias Sports Bureau, it marked the first time since 1893 – when the mound was moved 60 feet, 6 inches from home plate – that the Pirates’ bullpen didn’t allow a hit while covering seven or more innings.

“I’m proud to be a part of that,” De Jong said. “Just hand the baton to the next guy and let them do their job.”

Gamel singled in the first, but the Pirates didn’t get another hit until Jason Delay singled in the eighth against lefty Austin Davis, a former Pirate who then walked Marcano and gave up a single to Kevin Newman to load the bases.

Reynolds barked at Ortiz after he being called out on strikes on a full-count curveball in the sixth inning but was furious when he was rung up on a slider that was low and away in the eighth.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that animated, honestly,” Shelton said. “The at-bat before, it was a borderline pitch. That at-bat was a borderline pitch. I think Bryan just kind of got to his breaking point.”