Reds rock Mitch Keller, rap out 15 hits to pound Pirates

Inconsistency has been Mitch Keller’s calling card this season, so it was a promising sign for the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander when he retired the side on six pitches in the first inning.

The Cincinnati Reds didn’t go down so easily in a six-run fourth, knocking Keller out of the game with five hits and two walks while batting around the order.

And they were only getting warmed up.

Cincinnati cranked out eight extra-base hits, including home runs by Eugenio Suarez and Tyler Naquin, on their way to a 14-1 win over the Pirates on Monday night before 4,065 at PNC Park.

Led by Naquin’s four-RBI game, the Reds (16-16) had seven players with multi-hit games as they finished with 15 knocks, including six doubles. Cincinnati has scored double-digit runs in each of the past three meetings with the Pirates, outscoring them, 44-9, in four games this season.

“As we’ve seen from this Reds team, you miss spots and they’re going to do damage,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, “and they did some damage.”

Keller did a good job of attacking the zone in the first three innings but had trouble locating his pitches in the fourth inning. That’s been a common theme for Keller this season, usually early in his starts.

“I don’t have a good explanation for it, other than just missing spots,” Shelton said. “I know I keep coming back to that, but in the big leagues, when you don’t hit locations, you end up being in the middle of the plate, especially with a club that swings the bat as aggressively as they do. You get yourself in trouble, and that’s kindof what happened.”

Keller (2-4) gave up seven runs (all earned) on seven hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings and the bullpen was no better, as the Pirates (14-20) lost their fifth consecutive home game and for the ninth time in 11 games.

The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Suarez hit a two-out home run to right. The Pirates tied it in the bottom of the second when catcher Jacob Stallings led off with a 409-foot shot to left field for his second homer of the season.

Stallings, however, left the bases loaded in the third after Adam Frazier singled to right and Bryan Reynolds and Phillip Evans drew walks. With a 2-2 count against Reds starter Tyler Mahle (2-1), Stallings got caught looking at a called third strike.

“We’ve got to come back out and execute pitches,” Shelton said. “That affects us a little bit in terms of we didn’t separate the game, but in terms of everything else, we have to locate, and we didn’t locate.”

The Reds rocked Keller in the fourth, starting with Jesse Winker’s leadoff bloop single to center. It wend downhill from there, as Keller walked Nick Castellanos, then gave up a single to Mike Moustakas that scored Winker for a 2-1 lead. Naquin followed with an RBI double and Tucker Barnhart added a two-run double for a 5-1 advantage. Keller was pulled after he walked Mahle to load the bases with only one out.

“Not only walking the two guys but also, it seemed like from our vantage point on the side, most of the balls that he missed with were in the middle,” Shelton said. “With breaking balls, it was up or down and in against left handers, where they’re going to hit the ball hard.”

Keller was at a loss for an explanation of what went wrong, saying the hardest part to swallow was that he felt good attacking the zone.

“I don’t really know,” Keller I think I just kind of fell behind a little bit here and there and they were looking for the pitch I threw and they got ahold of them, and I just got hit around. … I’m in a good spot with all my pitches, so it’s just kind of tough to have that fourth go the way that it did.”

Duane Underwood Jr. replaced Keller, only to give up a two-run single to Nick Senzel as the Reds took a 7-1 lead.

The Reds scored seven more runs off the Pirates’ bullpen, adding three each in the seventh and eighth innings.

Tucker Barnhart led off the sixth with a double, and scored on Mahle’s fielder’s choice for an 8-1 lead. Naquin launched an Oviedo four-seam fastball for a three-run homer off the right-field foul pole to make it 11-1. Senzel doubled down the right field line off Geoff Hartlieb to score Kyle Farmer and give the Reds a 12-1 lead in the eighth. Castellanos hit a two-run double past Ben Gamel – playing first base for only the second time in his six-year career – to stretch it to 14-1.

“They’re really aggressive. They have a good lineup. They have some guys that are swinging the bat pretty well,” Shelton said. “When you’re in the middle of the plate in a major league game, you’re going to get hard-hit balls, and that’s what we saw.”