Mitch Keller goes 7 innings, Jake Marisnick homers in return to boost Pirates past Marlins

Mitch Keller hadn’t pitched into the seventh inning as a starter but once in his major league career, and the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander didn’t record an out in the seventh in that game.

The Pirates provided Keller the perfect cushion with an early three-run lead, then watched him deliver the deepest start — and one of the finest performances — of his four-year career.

Keller allowed one run on five hits and recorded five strikeouts in seven innings as the Pirates pounded the Miami Marlins for 11 hits in a 5-1 win Monday night at loanDepot Park. It was the Pirates’ fourth win in six games on their 12-game, 11-day road trip with stops in four cities.

“For him to go out and do what he did was special,” Pirates outfielder Jake Marisnick said of Keller. “It was fun to watch. It’s hard to lose when a guy goes on the mound and does what he did tonight.”

The Pirates got a boost by Marisnick’s return after a 60-day stint on the injured list following surgery on his left thumb and a rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Indianapolis. Marisnick was immediately inserted into the starting lineup at center field to replace Bryan Reynolds, who went on the 10-day IL with a right oblique strain, and went 2 for 3 with two runs on a walk, a double and a two-run home run.

Marisnick and Kevin Newman, another recent returnee from the 60-day IL, sparked the Pirates to an early 3-0 lead thanks to timely hitting and smart baserunning.

Newman, who went 3 for 3, got it started with a leadoff single, then advanced to third on a Ke’Bryan Hayes single and an error by first baseman Jesus Aguilar. Hayes stole second, putting both runners in position to score on Diego Castillo’s single to shallow center to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

“That’s huge. Anytime you can open the game with two runs is awesome,” Keller said. “We’ve been knocking on the door here early in games these past few weeks, it seems like, so to finally get some scratched across there in the first is huge for a starting pitcher. Now the quick outs become even quicker and quicker, and you try to get the guys back in because they’re swinging it.”

After drawing a walk in the second inning, Marisnick stole second to put himself in scoring position when Newman doubled to left-center for a 3-0 lead.

Keller (3-6) kept the Marlins scoreless through the first five innings, before Garrett Cooper doubled and scored on Avisail Garcia’s single to left to cut it to 3-1 in the sixth.

The first time the 26-year-old Keller pitched into the seventh inning as a starter was in a 3-2 walk-off win over the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 23, 2019 at PNC Park. Keller didn’t record an out, giving up a ground-rule double and a single in the seventh in that game before being replaced by Michael Feliz.

Keller threw 61 of his 95 pitches for strikes and didn’t allow a walk, although he did hit Jesus Aguilar with a pitch in the first inning. He focused on pounding the strike zone instead of throwing nasty pitches, and even though his velocity took a slight dip on his four-seam fastball and slider, Shelton wasn’t worried about Keller’s sinker.

“We knew the execution of the sinker was good,” Shelton said. “The balls he gave up hits on in the sixth were both breaking balls that got away from him. That was the big thing: We knew he still had the sinker.”

This time, in his 54th career start, Keller retired the side. He got Brian Anderson looking at a slider for a called third strike, then used the sinker to get Bryan De La Cruz to ground out and a fastball to get another groundout from Miguel Rojas.

Keller is the third Pirates pitcher to go seven innings this season, joining JT Brubaker (June 9 at Atlanta) and Jose Quintana (May 15 against Cincinnati). Keller is their first to allow one or fewer runs without issuing a walk in seven or more innings since Joe Musgrove on June 21, 2019 against San Diego and the first to do so on the road since Gerrit Cole on Aug. 26, 2017 at Cincinnati.

“It feels really good,” Keller said. “The one thing on my mind was getting through that, no matter what. That’s what starting pitchers want to do, go as deep as you can. I’m glad I was able to go seven for us.”

Chase De Jong replaced Keller in the eighth but walked pinch hitter Jon Berti before recording two outs. Shelton turned to Yerry De Los Santos to face Aguilar, only for Jason Delay to be called for catcher’s interference on a 1-2 count to put runners on first and second. De Los Santos recovered to get Garcia swinging at slider for the final out.

Marisnick, who was hitting .163 before his injury, followed Josh VanMeter’s leadoff double by drilling a Jimmy Yacabonis 0-2 slider 419 feet to left field for his first homer of the season and a 5-1 lead.

“I think it starts with pitching. Mitch Keller went out there and threw a heck of a game,” Newman said. “That was a lot of fun to play defense behind. It kind of gets the offense going on the other side, seeing how well he’s throwing it. We tried to keep it rolling.

“It looks like his confidence is huge and is up right now. He knows he can throw his pitches and his pitches are better than the hitters he’s facing. That goes a long way. The conviction is turning into dominance and it’s a lot of fun to watch.”