Behind Mitch Keller, Pirates chase series win vs. Padres

Mitch Keller will try to continue the Pittsburgh Pirates' strong start while fellow right-hander Michael King will bid to get the visiting San Diego Padres back on track when the teams play the decisive contest of a three-game series on Wednesday afternoon.

Keller (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will seek his second victory of the season, a total he did not hit last year until his 17th start.

King (0-1, 3.38) will look to bounce back after taking his first loss last Friday at Boston.

Keller, who went 6-15 with a 4.19 ERA last season, often pitched well enough to win more starts than he did. He put together 17 quality starts in his 32 outings, but he often was the victim of a lack of run support.

Keller traditionally has struggled against the Padres, going 2-5 with a 5.84 ERA in seven career starts. But he has back-to-back quality starts to open this season. And it could be a different story if the Pirates' season-opening trend of hitting and producing runs continues.

In Keller's most recent outing last Friday at home against Baltimore, he gave up two runs on six hits and four walks while striking out four. An early four-run second inning was enough of a cushion for Pittsburgh to secure Keller the victory in a 5-4 game.

"Just attacking the zone and we got ahead," Keller said after the start. "The sinker was good and we got some double plays. But there was some bad too ... walks. You don't want to have those leadoff walks and have them make something out of nothing."

The Pirates are averaging 4.7 runs through their first 11 games after averaging 3.6 per game last season. They broke a 15-inning scoreless streak in the fifth inning of Tuesday's 7-1 win over the Padres and tacked on five runs in the eighth.

King will try to silence those bats after giving up four runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings in a 5-2 loss to the Red Sox on Friday. It was a downturn following his season-opening start against the Tigers on March 27, when he allowed one unearned run on one hit in five innings. He had a no-decision in the Padres' 5-2 loss.

King is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates. He will be tasked with giving San Diego's offense a chance to bounce back after it was held to three hits on Tuesday.

The low output followed a stretch of two games in which San Diego totaled 13 runs and appeared to be breaking out of its early-season offensive doldrums.

The Padres have 38 runs this season, tied for the sixth fewest in the majors.

One bright spot in Tuesday's defeat was the solo home run by Xander Bogaerts off Pirates ace Paul Skenes. It was Bogaerts' first home run this year and his sixth hit in his past 11 at-bats after mustering only four in his first 32.

"When we ended spring training, we felt really good about how he was swinging the bat," Padres manager Craig Stammen said. "He looked like the Xander Bogaerts we expected to see. For a couple of games, he got off a bit, and now he's back. That bodes well for him for the rest of the season."