Morning Rundown: Mitch Keller caps of second half struggles with another loss

Keller finished the season with an 11-12 record

Sep 27, 2024

The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped their final home game of the season to the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2.

Mitch Keller closed his regular season by allowing three earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out six over five innings. The loss gives him a losing record on the season (11-12).

Bryan De La Cruz provided the only offense for the Pirates, hitting his 21st home run of the season, a two-run shot in the seventh inning.

For Keller, it’s a second straight season that ended on a sour note for him. In 12 starts after the All-Star game this year, Keller went 1-7 with a 5.65 ERA in 63.2 innings pitched.

That’s nearly identical to his 5.59 mark over 77.1 innings last year.

Overall, the numbers weren’t bad. A pitcher capable of throwing right at 180 innings pitched and keep the ERA right around four is right around a middle of the rotation starter.

The issue lies in the fact that it was the second straight season Keller has fallen off a cliff when it comes to production in the second half. Getting someone that could effectively eat innings while not letting things get too out of hand (6 IP, 3 ER is still an ERA of 4.50) is incredibly valuable these days.

For Keller, there were times down the stretch where he even struggled to get through the fifth inning.

Having Paul Skenes and even to an extent, Jared Jones, takes some pressure off Keller to be the top of the rotation guy, but even then, you can’t have one of your top pitchers fall apart in the second half on a regular basis.

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