Mitch Keller Hitting Rough Stretch With Pirates

The Pirates offense responded to take a 3-1 lead, but Keller walked a batter after a groundout and then threw a 78 mph curveball over the middle of the plate, which shortstop Mauricio Dubón crushed 405 feet into the left field seats to tie the game up at 3-3.

Keller got the next five outs, but then it all went wrong in the fifth inning. He allowed back-to-back singles, a hard out to center fielder Oneil Cruz at the wall, an RBI-double, a sacrifice fly and an RBI-single, putting the Braves up 6-3.

He didn't make it out of the fifth inning, as left-handed relief pitcher Evan Sisk had to come in and get the final out.

Keller gave up a hit on all seven of his pitches, while allowing seven hard hits, including six hits that were listed as hard hit on Statcast.

"Yeah they're always aggressive," Keller said about the Braves postgame. "Got a really good lineup over there. Probably why they've got the best record in baseball. Just did better than I did tonight."

Overview of Keller's Slump

Keller has given up 24 earned runs over his past five starts and 26 innings pitched for an 8.31 ERA, compared to a 2.87 ERA over his first eight starts, with six quality starts (six innings pitched, no more than three runs allowed).

It all started against the Colorado Rockies at PNC Park on May 13, where he threw four perfect innings, before giving up six runs in the fifth inning in the eventual 10-4 defeat.

Keller then gave up four earned runs over 5.2 innings vs. the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on May 19 and seven earned runs over four innings against the Minnesota Twins at PNC Park on May 30.

His only strong recent start was vs. the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on May 24, allowing just one run over six innings and posting five strikeouts in the 4-1 win.

It's been a precipitous drop in pitching quality from Keller, who didn't have an answer for exactly why he's struggled in recent games.

"Not really, honestly," Keller said postgame. "Just not as sharp so I've got to figure it out."

Why Keller's Slump is a Big Problem for Pirates

The Pirates really need what Keller usually brings to each start, which is taking on big innings workload, getting guys out and putting the offense in good position to take advantage.

Pittsburgh's starting pitchers, outside of Braxton Ashcraft, haven't had the efficiency they would've expected this season.

Paul Skenes has a surprisingly high 3.09 ERA and is in the first slump of his MLB career, while rookie Bubba Chandler has a 5.05 ERA and is working through some tough times.

The Pirates also just need a veteran in Keller to lead a young rotation, with Skenes in his third season in the rotation, Jared Jones back for his second year, then Ashcraft and Chandler in their first full seasons as starters.

It's a crucial season for the Pirates, who are 34-30 overall and in the National League Wild Card spot, but they need their starting pitching to dominate, particularly with the bullpen's ineffectiveness so far in 2026.

Pirates manager Don Kelly is still confident Keller can get back to pitching the way he did before, but that he needs to finish hitters off better than he has done.

"I think that to me, maybe with two strikes, being able to put guys away," Kelly said postgame. "I think that it is a key to pitching, getting ahead and then being able to put them away and it's tougher to finish them. There in that last inning it looked like they jumped him, were being more aggressive earlier in the count and got some barrels. Fully know that Mitch is going to work hard to get out of it."