Mitch Keller pitched eight innings to earn his 10th win of the season, and Joshua Palacios’ home run highlighted a five-run sixth inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the New York Mets 8-2 on Monday.
Keller (10-5) gave up two runs and seven hits in a 107-pitch performance, striking out six batters and walking none. He becomes the first Pirates pitcher since Gerrit Cole in 2015 to reach double-digit wins before the All-Star break, helping Pittsburgh split the four-game series with New York.
The strong outing from Keller came just after he was not chosen for the All-Star Game, a decision that disappointed Pirates manager Derek Shelton.
“That was an All-Star performance,” Shelton commented. “He’s got 10 wins before the break with another start coming up. He had one slip-up in eight innings, dealt with the heat, and endured through two long innings. If that’s not All-Star caliber, I don’t know what is.”
This game marked Keller’s 49th consecutive start of pitching at least five innings, the longest active streak in MLB.
“We had a solid game plan going into it, Joey (Bart) and I,” Keller noted. “I aimed to attack the strike zone aggressively and fill it up. Good outcomes usually follow when you do that.”
In the game, Oneil Cruz for the Pirates and Brandon Nimmo for the Mets both hit two-run home runs.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza removed rookie starter Christian Scott after 77 pitches in the sixth inning with two outs and no runners on base, with the score tied 2-2. It was Scott’s first major-league start on four days’ rest, with a pitch limit of 75.
Eric Orze, making his MLB debut, replaced Scott but struggled, failing to retire any of the three batters he faced. Orze (0-1) walked Bryan Reynolds, then Cruz singled and Rowdy Tellez hit an RBI single, putting the Pirates ahead 3-2.
