The Pittsburgh Pirates got what they needed from Mitch Keller, even if the right-hander didn’t get what he wanted.

Despite making a second consecutive strong start, Keller left a tied game after six innings and didn’t get a decision when a Pirates victory would have marked the first back-to-back wins of his career.

The Detroit Tigers scored two runs off the bullpen on the way to a 3-1 win over the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon before an announced 11,723 at PNC Park to complete a two-game series sweep.

“I thought he threw the ball well,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Gave us a chance to win the game. Gave up one run, continued to execute, six strong innings. We didn’t get much support for him.”

Keller leaned on his sinker and slider to strike out seven Tigers, tying the season high he set April 20 at the Milwaukee Brewers. He allowed four hits and two walks while throwing 54 of his 95 pitches for strikes. Keller gained confidence in the slider as the game went on.

“I know sometimes I fell behind a little bit there, but the sinker just really allowed me to get back in the zone, get some groundball outs quick,” Keller said. “And then the slider was working. When I got the feel for it there in the last three innings or so, it was really working for me.”

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, when Daz Cameron drove an 0-2 slider off the Clemente Wall to score Eric Haase. Pirates right fielder Cal Mitchell misplayed the ball, crashing into the fence instead of playing it off the bounce, allowing Cameron a triple.

“He’s just a really good hitter. He hit our mistakes,” Keller said. “I left a mistake up 0-2. Don’t know if it was the right pitch call or not. I just left it up, and he hits mistakes.”

Keller retired 13 of the final 15 batters he faced, giving up only a double to Austin Meadows on a ball that dropped between Mitchell and Bryan Reynolds in right-center in the third and walking Meadows in the sixth.

Jack Suwinski ensured Keller left with the score tied, courtesy of his seventh home run in the fourth inning. Suwinski sent Tigers starter Alex Faedo’s 0-2 changeup 376 feet to right-center to tie it at 1-1.

Faedo gave up three hits and one walk while striking out seven in five innings. After giving up back-to-back singles to Yu Chang and Michael Perez in the third, he struck out Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds to end the inning.

“This kid’s off to a good start in his career,” Shelton said of Faedo, a 26-year-old rookie right-hander in his seventh start. “He mixes and matches. It’s not a ton of velocity. When he has to go back and get it, he gets it. I think it was more the mix and the match and the ability to use the breaking ball behind in the count.”

The Tigers got a break in the eighth. Harold Castro hit a leadoff single off Wil Crowe (2-3). Then Reynolds appeared to rob Jonathan Schoop of a hit by making a diving catch in center. The Tigers challenged the call, however, and it was overturned after video review showed Reynolds trapped it.

Miguel Cabrera followed with an RBI single to center to score Castro for a 2-1 lead, as Reynolds’ throw home was off the mark. Crowe got Meadows to line out, and Chris Stratton got Javier Baez to ground into a double play. The Tigers added an insurance run in the ninth, when Cameron doubled down the right-field line off Stratton to score Eric Haase for a 3-1 lead.

Shelton had Travis Swaggerty pinch-hit for Chang in the eighth, then put Michael Chavis into the game at first base. Swaggerty replaced Suwinski in left field and Chavis batted in his spot in the ninth. Shelton anticipated the Tigers turning to the left-handed Soto, so he went with the matchup that favored the right-handed Chavis over Suwinski, a lefty.

“That matchup, I definitely understand it,” Suwinski said. “You’re getting left-on-left at 100 (mph). Chavis is a really good hitter. I’ve seen him crush balls. Velo doesn’t really bother him from what I’ve seen. I was pulling for him.”

Soto got Reynolds to ground out to Schoop, who was stationed behind second base in the defensive shift, and worked Chavis to a full count before getting him to fly out to center.

Daniel Vogelbach drew a walk and Diego Castillo singled to center to put runners on first and third. Soto got Mitchell to go down swinging to earn his 12th save.

“It was just the byproduct of where we’re at with our bench and that was the spot that came out. If we would’ve gotten farther down, Chavis would’ve gone in somewhere else,” Shelton said. “(Replacing Suwinski) gives me pause because of the fact he’s had really consistent at-bats. It just kind of happened of that’s where the function of our lineup was at that point.”

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