Mitch Keller tosses six shutout innings, Oneil Cruz, Connor Joe homer as Pirates beat Twins

Mitch Keller had kept the Minnesota Twins off the scoreboard for five-plus innings when he faced a full count with the bases loaded when the Pittsburgh Pirates ace showed confidence in his sweeper, a pitch he has worked to sharpen.

If it wasn’t a strike, Keller was hoping for a swing. He threw it low and inside and got Max Kepler to bite, swinging and missing on a pitch that ended up hitting him in the thigh for a strikeout to escape the jam.

Keller and the back end of the bullpen kept the Twins scoreless, and the Pirates sandwiched solo home runs by Oneil Cruz and Connor Joe around a Nick Gonzales sacrifice fly for a 3-0 win Friday night before 19,552 at PNC Park.

Keller’s strikeout of Kepler was one of eight over six shutout innings in which he allowed seven hits and two walks. It marked the second time this season that Keller tossed six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. He also did so in an 8-6 win May 13 at Milwaukee.

“It was funny, because I thought he fouled it off at first,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He didn’t react to it, and (Yasmani Grandal) didn’t react to it. Yeah, that ball had some serious (movement).”

It was Keller’s sixth consecutive outing of at least six innings and two or fewer runs, the longest stretch by a Pirates pitcher since Gerrit Cole had eight straight in 2015, and extended his streak to 44 starts of at least five innings.

“Anything being (mentioned) with Gerrit is pretty cool,” Keller said. “He’s someone I look up to, so that’s pretty cool. Good rhythm. I’m trying to keep it going.”

The Pirates needed Keller’s best, especially with Twins righty Joe Ryan countering with an efficient outing. Ryan allowed two runs on two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts over seven innings.

The Twins got off to a fast start against Keller as Trevor Larnach hit a leadoff double down the left-field line, and Carlos Correa drew a full-count walk. Keller got Royce Lewis to fly out to center then got Kepler and Ryan Jeffers looking at called third strikes.

“I think we continue to see why he’s a frontline starter. That’s what frontline starters do,” Shelton said. “He gives up a base hit on a ground ball back through the middle, walk, then you have first and second with the heart of their order. He gets out of it. He gets in the fifth and gets three in four, and has to get Royce and Kepler out, executes pitches throughout the whole thing. This guy is a good, frontline major-league starter.”

Cruz led off the second inning by hitting Ryan’s 2-1 splitter for a moonshot that sailed 422 feet into the right-field seats for his ninth home run and a 1-0 Pirates lead.

The Pirates loaded the bases against Ryan in the fourth, when Bryan Reynolds hit a leadoff double, Cruz worked a full-count walk and Edward Olivares drew a four-pitch walk. Gonzales hit a fly to center to score Reynolds for a 2-0 lead.

Keller didn’t allow another runner to reach second base until the fifth inning, when he walked Willi Castro and Larnach hit a jam shot to left. Correa hit a grounder up the middle that Gonzales backhanded, then flipped behind his back to Cruz at second base. Cruz appeared to step on the bag, but Larnach was called safe by second base umpire Ryan Wills.

Keller responded by striking out Lewis on a sinker above the strike zone, then got Kepler swinging to escape the bases-loaded jam. Keller showed increased velocity in all of his pitches.

“The sweeper plays when the velocity ticks up, especially when it ticks up on both the fastball and the cutter, then the sweeper becomes even more of a weapon,” Shelton said. “And I think because of the velocity, being up on those two, Mitch and Yaz did a really good job of using it.”

The Pirates provided Keller with solid defense. Reynolds stretched out for a diving catch in left to rob Jeffers of an extra-base hit, then faked to third before throwing to second to force a rundown on Byron Buxton, who tried to stretch a single in the sixth.

“It’s unbelievable,” Keller said. “Reynolds that inning was huge. He made two outs for us, the diving catch and then the head’s-up play to throw it to second to get in a rundown. If he doesn’t do either of those, who knows what can happen? I might not make it out of the sixth.”

A bullpen that has struggled at times was solid. Aroldis Chapman notched a pair of strikeouts in the seventh, and Colin Holderman got a pair of pop-ups and a groundout in a 1-2-3 eighth. Joe drilled a 2-2 sweeper by Griffin Jax 408 feet on a line drive to left for his seventh homer and a three-run cushion, and David Bednar earned his 13th save.

“Even when they weren’t (pitching well), you still have the utmost confidence in them,” Keller said. “Whenever I leave the game with the lead, I feel like it’s a guaranteed win with the guys that we have and the stuff that they have and the stuff we know they’re capable of doing. It’s pretty impressive stuff tonight from everybody.”