Mitch Keller strikes out 9, Bryan Reynolds hits 100th homer as Pirates beat Tigers

Mitch Keller found that watching the solar eclipse before his start Monday took his mind off baseball. Perhaps that helped the Pittsburgh Pirates ace relax after he walked two of the first three batters he faced.

After giving up a run in the first inning, Keller turned it around by striking out the side in the second inning on his way to a nine-strikeout performance and his first quality start of the season.

Keller held the Detroit Tigers to two runs on five hits, and Bryan Reynolds hit his 100th career home run as the Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4, on Monday night before 9,957 at PNC Park.

“Even in the first inning where I had two walks, which is kind of uncharacteristic, I felt really good about how it was coming out,” said Keller, who had three walks but threw 60 of his 98 pitches for strikes. “It was just about dialing it back into the zone. Once I went out there for the second I kind of knew that I was pretty locked in with my stuff.”

It was the fifth consecutive quality start by a Pirates pitcher, and Keller’s best start of the season after getting a no-decision on Opening Day at Miami and taking the loss last Wednesday at Washington.

The starting rotation, which entered the season as the Pirates’ greatest concern, has gotten at least six innings and two runs from Martin Perez, Jared Jones, Bailey Falter, Marco Gonzales and Keller in winning four of their past five games.

“I mean, obviously, I think he got stronger as the game went on,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Keller. “Early on he was struggling with his command a little bit, but he continued to get stronger and execute pitches and velo ticked up. The curveball was as sharp as we’ve seen it. He did a really good job with it. But, overall, after that first inning I thought he threw the ball really well.”

The Pirates (9-2) have the best record in the National League and remain tied with the New York Yankees for the best record in baseball. They play the Tigers (6-4) at 12:35 p.m. Tuesday in the finale of the two-game series.

Keller (1-0) walked leadoff batter Parker Meadows before getting Riley Greene looking at a called third strike. After walking Spencer Torkelson on four pitches, Keller struck out Kerry Carpenter on a curveball. Colt Keith singled to left to score Meadows for a 1-0 Tigers lead, but Bryan Reynolds threw Torkelson out at third.

After Keller struck out the side in the second, the Pirates provided support by scoring three runs.

“Just having a good second there just kind of raises your confidence a little bit, throwing up a zero,” Keller said. “And we just kinda exploded for some runs there. It was huge.”

Jack Suwinski drew a leadoff walk off Reese Olson (0-1), advanced to second on Andrew McCutchen’s line drive to center and scored to tie the game when Connor Joe hit a dribbler toward third that Olson couldn’t corral.

Jared Triolo hit a slow roller to short and beat Javier Baez’s throw to load the bases for Joey Bart, who hit a sharp grounder up the middle to score Rowdy Tellez and Joe for a 3-1 Pirates lead.

After hitting a two-run homer against the Baltimore Orioles in his debut Saturday, Bart became only the fourth player to record multiple RBIs in each of his first two games for the Pirates since the statistic became official in 1920. Bart joined Mack Hillis (1928), Dick Stuart (1958) and Lastings Milledge (2009).

The Pirates tacked on two more in the third, when Suwinski singled, Tellez was hit by a pitch and Joe drew a walk to set the stage for Triolo’s two-run single to center that made it 5-1.

The Tigers got back-to-back one-out singles and a double steal by Matt Vierling and Baez to put runners in scoring position in the fourth, and Zach McKinstry’s sacrifice fly to center scored Vierling to cut it to 5-2.

McCutchen nearly went opposite field for his 300th career home run to start the fifth but had to settle for a double when it hit off the top of the Clemente Wall in right field.

“I thought he had it, I really did,” Shelton said. “I was hoping he did. I thought he had it. He missed it by a couple feet.”

Tellez singled to put runners on the corners for Joe, who doubled off the left-field wall to score McCutchen for a 6-2 lead.

Reynolds led off the sixth by hammering lefty reliever Tyler Holton’s 0-1 sinker 412 feet to left to stretch the Pirates’ lead to 7-2. Reynolds is the 25th player in franchise history to hit 100 homers with the Pirates.

“It was a good day, good day top to bottom,” Reynolds said. “Good at-bats, good barrels, knocking in runs.”

The Tigers tagged lefty Josh Fleming for a run in the eighth. Greene reached on a fielding error by Oneil Cruz, pinch hitter Mark Canha drew a walk and Keith singled to load the bases. Vierling hit a slow roller down the third-base line to score Greene, cutting it to 7-3.

With the bases loaded and one out, the Pirates turned to Aroldis Chapman, and the seven-time All-Star delivered. He got Baez swinging at a 100.9 mph sinker and needed only three pitches to strike out Wenceel Perez, getting the rookie outfielder looking at a 101.2 mph sinker for a called third strike to leave the runners stranded.

Greene smacked a one-out double off the left-field corner wall — Suwinski crashed hard into the wall trying to make the catch — to drive in Gio Urshela and cut it to 7-4 in the ninth.

“Looked like a car crash,” Reynolds said. “First thing I said to him was, ‘Jack, you good, man?’ He’s tough. Popped right up.”

Ryder Ryan got Torkelson to strike out and Canha to ground out to end the game as the Pirates got another strong outing from their pitching staff.

“That’s where it starts. That’s huge,” Reynolds said. “Plus, the bullpen has been lights out. That’s a good recipe right there.”