Pirates Insider Podcast, Episode 27 (6/23 vs. Mariners)

Mitch Keller filled up the zone with strikes and got a lot of fly ball outs. He also delivered his eighth quality start of the season. But it was one pitch that left him frustrated. North Allegheny product Cole Young hit the decisive homer while continuing the tradition of WPIAL guys hurting their hometown team. The bullpen is trending in a better direction, but the Pirates still struggled to hit with runners in scoring position. Jason Mackey breaks it all down here.

Transcript

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Good morning, everybody. Welcome inside to the Pirates Insider Podcast. I am your host, Jason Mackey, talking to you from PNC Park after a 3-2 Pirates loss to the Seattle Mariners game one of their series in the start of a homestand. It was a frustrating one for the Pirates. Mitch Keller actually pitched pretty well. I liked by and large what Keller did, but the Pirates unable to get a victory. The key hit was the local kid, North Allegheny's Cole Young, with a two-run home run in the seventh inning, put the Mariners in front 3-2. And that was all she wrote. The Pirates were unable to come back in this one. Let's break it down a little bit. My biggest takeaway, honestly, is Mitch Keller, though. I thought Keller was pretty good. He goes six innings, allows three earned runs, one walk, four strikeouts, seven hits, two home runs. I know given the fact that he allowed the home run to Cole Young, it's going to be pretty easy to poke holes in this one and say Keller didn't have a good outing or whatever. But I mean it was a quality start. It was his best start since late May. I believe it was his eighth quality start of the season. And as we look at Mitch, and I I think it was May 24th at Toronto to be exact, uh, and I think about that outing in Sacramento against the A's and wanting to see more from him in terms of throwing strikes, filling up the zone, and challenging hitters. And I thought Mitch did that. I thought he actually did a very good job of that. He even did it a little too much against Cole Young. That pitch, uh, it was a sweeper, 1-0, down a little bit, maybe caught too much plate. Cole Young got it out of here 382 feet the right field at 100.9 uh off the bat. I mean, it wasn't smoked, but certainly hit hard. Throws 92 pitches, 63 for strikes, um, used a lot of his arsenal. Uh, this was the Mitch Keller that we've seen. The one deviation was a lot of fly ball outs. I believe he had 11 fly ball outs. That's the most in three years for a Pirates pitcher, a little atypical for Mitch when he's been on because of that sinker. A lot of times we've seen him keep the ball on the ground. Doesn't really matter. Regardless, have to get outs, and Mitch was able to do that. Um and again, it you can question it. You can say in the seventh inning, maybe Don Kelly should have brought in Mason Montgomery earlier. But I I've been critical of Kelly and and you know, just pitchers in general, um, not even pitchers, but teams, managers of using bullpen a little too early, too aggressively. I'm fine sticking with your starter, trying to let him, you know, get to close to 100 pitches. Um Keller was throwing the ball well. He made a mistake. A pitch caught too much plate. I I can live with it. I'm not going to go back on that and change my opinion. I'm if if I get beat, I'm fine with my starter getting beat versus what has been a weak link to the team to this point getting beat. So, all right, let's go through the uh scoring recap a little bit and paint the picture on how this one went down. Pirates started the scoring bottom of the second inning. Marcelo Zuna with a single on a one-two pitch. It was a fastball middle away, actually, a good piece of hitting. Marcelo Zuna became a little bit of a talking point in this one because of this swing. Drives in the run line drive to center field at 104.3. Good piece of hitting for him. Umzuna is just in an interesting place right now. He's in the lineup. They dropped him down to seven for this one. He struck out in his next two at bats and then drew a walk in the eighth inning. Uh was ultimately pinch run for the Pirates, put two on. They were not able to get a run home. That was a theme in this one, not being able to get the key hit in key situations, a few too many strikeouts in those situations. Uh, but by and large, with Ozuna, uh, I like the swing in the second inning, and they need to give him an opportunity to play and get right and develop a bit of a rhythm. So I hope for his sake that helped him a little bit. Pirates, by the way, went two for eight with runners in scoring position and they stranded nine. In the bottom of the third, Pirates up their lead to two-nothing. Nick Gonzalez with a single plus an error on the third baseman. That scored the run. So Pirates have a 2-0 lead, but the Mariners were able to punch back in the top of the fourth. Cal Raleigh, who came in here kind of struggling on the season, only a 162 average. He goes deep. It was his eighth of the year. Came on an 0-2 slider that was middle-middle. I talked about Keller filling up the zone, and I like Mitch being aggressive, probably was a little too aggressive there. Um slider right over the plate, like I said, uh right field. Raleigh goes 393 feet, 99.4 off the bat, and not a pitch that you're going to love to see, certainly. Um, but again, I I thought this was a step forward for Mitch. I'm okay with it. Uh, another thing we saw in this one was the bullpen actually faring well when Don Kelly did go to Mason Montgomery, and that happened in the uh seventh inning. Again, Mitch Keller gave up the home run. Don Kelly kept him in there. He walked the next guy, Victor Robles, um, and then they made the change. Mason Montgomery strikes out Emerson, uh, gives up a single to Crawford, and then strikeout, strikeout with Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez. Mason Montgomery pitched well. Isaac Madsen followed him. He pitched well. He went one, two, three with the strikeout. Dennis Santana walked the leadoff man, but then got three straight outs, including a strikeout. Um, those guys are important. Beginning of the season, they were some of the Pirates' primary setup men. And we're seeing them round back into form a little bit. Isaac Madsen since he's come back from AAA, he's been very good. I like what I've seen out of him. He added a little hesitation to his leg kick. I thought that was interesting. We haven't seen that from Matson before, but he's showing a more diverse pitch mix. And Dennis Santana, I know he gave up a home run in Colorado, but by and large has been pretty solid. And he looked again like the Dennis Santana of old pitching the ninth inning. Pirates were down a run, but still encouraging if that bullpen can improve. Obviously, that's an important part of the game. The Pirates, we know this, um, getting hits with runners in scoring position. It is weird to me how sort of hit and miss that can be with this team. There are games, there are stretches where the Pirates are getting them all the time and they're really coming up big in these situations, and then it just dries up. And that was something that Don Kelly talked about after the game and said, you know, it's kind of the same story that when when they struggle, it's very easy to pinpoint the issue hitting with runners in scoring position. Another theme in this one, uh I I laugh about it, it's funny, not funny, but Cole Young from North Allegheny, we see it when Ian Hap comes in here, we see it when JJ Weatherholt comes in here. I mean, we've been good to these guys. These Whippy olducts, I feel like we we do a pretty good job loving them up and you know, welcoming them and making sure they're comfortable and celebrating Whippy ol baseball, and this is what they do. Um, but I mean, you know, good for Cole Young. I'm I'm sort of making a joke, but it is funny that these guys just they come in here and torture the pirates. Uh, they must love hitting at PNC Park. They must feel like they have something to prove, they must must feel at home out of something. But Cole Young kept up the tradition. Um, that was his only hit, but again, it was a big one. Send uh and went from a 2-1 deficit or a 2-1 Pirates lead to a 3-2 deficit. Uh, but just, you know, the Pittsburgh guys really putting it on the Pirates. So I think that's about it from this one. Not a whole bunch to read into. My biggest takeaway, like I said, Mitch Keller, 11 whiffs on the night uh through first pitch strikes to 17 of 26. So Ryan O'Hearn snapped an 0 for 15, by the way. He picked up a single late in the game. Pirates obviously need to get O'Hearn going. And some news and notes from before the game should probably point those out. Those are important. Todd Tomzik, director of sports medicine for the Pirates, spoke to us. Uh Connor Griffin will start a rehab assignment tomorrow with AA Altoona. We'll see where his schedule goes and see how he feels coming out of that. But wouldn't be surprised to see him maybe in Indianapolis over the weekend and then an activation. I don't know how much he's gonna need. I do think they're gonna be somewhat conservative with Griffin coming back. I don't think they're gonna play him at shortstop for nine innings every single game, but good to see him back on a rehab and getting in there. O'Neill Cruz had an appointment, um, basically checking on the fractured bones in his left wrist. They're healing up nicely as long as things continue to trend in this direction. Cruz should do some light gripping activities in the coming days and maybe even some dry swings. So obviously the Pirates need O'Neal Cruz back as soon as possible. Jared Jones had some additional imaging done on his elbow after taking a comebacker to the elbow Sunday in Denver. Um, that came up negative, so that's a good sign. Um Jones threw. The Pirates aren't going to commit to him making his next start until after he throws a midweek bullpen. But the fact that there's nothing showing in there, and it's kind of just swelling and discomfort and dealing with that at this point is an encouraging sign. Um I like what I'm hearing about Jared Jones, and that was just very scary from somebody who took a comebacker off of his knee. It split my kneecap in half in college. I kind of cringe every single time I see one of those, but glad to see that Jared Jones is okay and hope he's able to make his next start. The last update we got was on Hunter Barco. He had uh some imaging and some testing done. Um he's gonna be no throw for about five to seven days. The Pirates are gonna let his elbow kind of calm down. It's not like a traditional Tommy John UCL UCL kind of issue, uh, but there is some stuff in there that they want to let calm down. It's a little higher, more toward his tricep. Uh, so hopefully he's able to get calmed down and get healthy and get back on the mound. And uh Pirates are gonna need Hunter Barco at some point this season. I'm pretty confident about it. So uh loss for the Pirates tonight, 39 and 40. Can't can't say there's a whole ton to say about it other than Mitch Keller giving up the home run. Uh, frustrating that it happened. Need a few more uh uh hits with runners in scoring position in key situations. The Pirates with just two hits after the fourth inning, the offense was good early and then kind of went to sleep. Back at it tomorrow. Braxton Ashcraft will be on the mound. I'll talk to you from right in this spot. You were listening to the Pirates Insider Podcast. Make sure you subscribe to get this every single day. Breaking down Pirates games. I'm Jason Mackey. I'll talk to you then.