With season spiraling, Pirates count on starting pitching to serve as stoppers of losing streak

As the Pittsburgh Pirates attempt to put a disastrous homestand that ended with getting swept by the San Diego Padres in their rearview, they turn to their most reliable pitcher to serve as a stopper.

Mitch Keller’s streak of 49 consecutive starts of pitching at least five innings ended against the worst team in baseball. Now, the Pirates are counting on the right-hander to end a four-game losing streak against the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the best teams in the National League.

It’s not the first time Pirates manager Derek Shelton has asked as much of Keller, whose streak was broken when he pitched three innings against the Chicago White Sox on July 14 in the final game before the All-Star break.

Shelton knows Keller is up to the task, given that he leads the Pirates in wins (10), starts (22), quality starts (12), strikeouts (118) and innings pitched (132 1/3) this season.

“I think we’re in the position we’re in because of Mitch Keller, I really do,” Shelton said on July 22, before a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. “He’s the leader of our staff, he’s the guy that takes the ball every five or six days and is extremely consistent. I know the streak just got broken, but to be that consistent over that length of time, I think just speaks to that’s what a guy at the top of a rotation does. He’s so important to us in knowing what we’re going to get out of him his turn in the order.”

With their season spiraling — hold your PNC Park drain jokes — the Pirates (56-58) will look to their starting rotation to save them. Keller (10-5, 3.20 ERA) is scheduled to face Jack Flaherty (8-5, 2.80) on Friday night, with rookie right-hander Paul Skenes (6-1, 1.99) against River Ryan (1-0, 1.72) Saturday and lefty Bailey Falter (5-7, 3.87) against Tyler Glasnow (9-6, 3.54) Sunday.

The starters have transformed from the Pirates’ biggest concern to their greatest strength this season, while their bullpen has gone from most dependable position group to the least.

All three starting pitchers are fresh after coming off shortened outings. A 68-minute rain delay limited Keller to four innings against Arizona on Saturday. Skenes threw 100 pitches in 5 1/3 innings in a 6-5 loss to the Diamondbacks on Sunday. A two-hour, 40-minute rain delay ended Falter’s start after only two innings against the Padres on Tuesday.

That took a toll on their bullpen, which blew leads in the seventh inning or later in four games over the homestand. The Pirates used four relievers Tuesday and five on Wednesday and Thursday, so they could be counting on Keller, Skenes and Falter to cover as many innings as possible against an offense that features former MVPs in Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.

“How we manage it is going to be a little bit with our personnel because of the two rainouts,” Shelton said. “The two rainouts caused two short starts, which kind of beat it up a little bit.”

The Pirates are in a stretch of playing nine consecutive series against teams in the playoff picture, which could determine by mid-August whether they will remain in the wild card race. They enter the weekend nine games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central and 4 ½ games behind the New York Mets for the third wild card spot.

“Every game matters,” Keller said after the 4-2 win over Arizona on Saturday. “This is the type of game we want to be playing every single night. Every single game matters. Every team we play matters. It’s a lot more fun than the other version of that.”

The difference might come down to how the Pirates fare in close games. Five of their past six losses have been by one run, and they are 19-22 in one-run games this season. They beat the Dodgers, 1-0, on June 4, then won by four runs (10-6) the next day and lost by four (11-7).

“We know we’ve got to win those games,” Pirates catcher Joey Bart said. “When it comes down to it, those one-run games are huge. There’s a lot of one-run games won every year by good clubs. We’ve won one-run games but lately we haven’t. So, we’ll be better. We’ll find ways to win. We’ll get something going at some point, and we’ve just got to have faith we’ll find a way through it.”