Cardinals crush 2 homers, including Nolan Gorman grand slam, to beat Mitch Keller, Pirates

Before Mitch Keller’s start, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton heaped praise on the All-Star right-hander for how he has handled peaks and valleys to become the headliner of the starting rotation.

Only for Keller to have his worst start of the season.

Keller surrendered a two-run homer to Alec Burleson and a grand slam to Nolan Gorman in a 7-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night before 17,701 at PNC Park.

“The arsenal was there. It was just the fact that it was in the middle of the plate,” Shelton said. “When you’re in the middle of the plate in the big leagues, especially with two strikes and there’s lack of putaway, then you see the ball get hit hard.”

While Keller (9-5) extended his streak of consecutive starts of at least five innings to 48 games, he allowed six runs (five earned) on nine hits while throwing 99 pitches over those five innings. It was the most runs allowed by Keller since an 8-2 loss at Atlanta last Sept. 8, when he gave up eight earned runs on 12 hits, including two homers.

It couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Pirates. Beforehand, Shelton stressed the importance of taking advantage of this three-game series and six-game homestand to improve their standing in the NL Central Division and wild-card races.

The Pirates (40-44) fell to 19-21 at PNC Park this season, joining the Cincinnati Reds as the only teams in the NL Central with a losing home record. The second-place Cardinals (44-40) stretched their lead over the Pirates to four games in both the divisional and wild-card standings.

“Obviously, every single night we go out there we’re trying to win a game, whether we’re home or away, so it’s definitely frustrating anytime you lose, especially at home,” Keller said. “It’s no fun. Every loss hurts, but those especially because you can’t get them back and there’s only a certain amount of games you can play against them. Every one really matters.”

Keller got off to a shaky start when he hit Willson Contreras on the left hand with a pitch — a call the Pirates challenged but was confirmed upon review — in the first inning and gave up a leadoff single to Brendan Donovan in the second. But he kept the Cardinals from scoring both times, locking in even when one of his teammates zoned out for a moment.

After Matt Carpenter grounded out to third, Ke’Bryan Hayes started to jog toward the dugout before Keller yelled to remind him that it was only the second out. Keller then made quick work of Gorman in three pitches, freezing him with a 97.4-mph fastball on the inside for a called third strike to end the frame.

Gorman would later get payback with a big swing.

After Masyn Winn roped a line drive down the right-field line for a book-rule double in the third, Burleson sent Keller’s full-count fastball at the top of the strike zone 367 feet into the right-field seats for his 13th home run and a 2-0 Cardinals lead.

It only got worse for Keller in the fourth. After Donovan singled through second, Nolan Arenado reached on interference by catcher Yasmani Grandal and Matt Carpenter dropped a flare into left to load the bases.

“The catcher’s interference, the ball’s in his glove. That’s a tough one,” Shelton said. “That’s really hard. It’s not like it was in the act of receiving the ball. I mean, the ball was in his glove when Arenado had the check swing. He made a late reaction to it. There’s nothing you can do when the ball’s in the glove.”

When Keller left a 1-2 sweeper outside, Gorman drilled it 415 feet to the North Side Notch in left-center for his 17th homer to give the Cardinals a 6-0 lead. It was the second career grand slam for Gorman, whose first came against Arizona on April 19, 2023. The Cardinals second baseman was batting .187 entering the game.

“I thought I made a really good pitch to him, exactly where I wanted to,” Keller said. “I know he’d been struggling a little bit, but Gorman had a great swing on it, drove it to the hardest part of the park to hit a homer. so hat’s off to him.”

Keller struck out the next two batters, then the Cardinals almost extended their lead. Burleson singled to center, then tried to score from first on a double to the right-field corner by Contreras. But Connor Joe hit shortstop Oneil Cruz on the cutoff, and Cruz threw a laser to home that had Grandal waiting to tag Burleson on the slide at the plate.

Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson (6-3), by comparison, had eight strikeouts and fanned the side twice in five innings. The 36-year-old right-hander did so with efficiency, getting through the second inning on 13 pitches and the fourth on seven.

The Pirates finally got to Gibson with a four-run fifth, when Rowdy Tellez led off with a dribbler to third and Nick Gonzales singled to center. Jack Suwinski crushed a full-count fastball 448 feet to right for a three-run homer to cut the six-run deficit in half. Suwinski, who was batting .168, had a breakout game by going 3 for 3.

Andrew McCutchen added a solo shot 407 feet to straightaway center for his 12th homer to trim it to 6-4. It marked McCutchen’s 11th homer batting leadoff this season and his 590th extra-base hit, tying Hall of Famer Max Carey for sixth-most in franchise history.

The Cardinals added another run against Luis Ortiz in the seventh, when Paul Goldschmidt hit a one-out double and scored when Donovan followed with a single to right for a 7-4 lead.

The Pirates expressed faith in Keller, despite his rough outing.

“That doesn’t waver at all,” Suwinski said. “That’s our horse right there. He’s going to come back (Wednesday), go over the game a little bit and be ready for the next one.”