04/27/23 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_Ethan on Twitter
It’s not about how you get knocked down, its about how you get back up.
After losing the opening game of the series to the LA Dodgers on Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates won the final two games of the series, including a 10-strikeout outing from Mitch Keller on Thursday in a 6-2 win over LA.
The Dodgers would jump on Keller early, scoring two early runs in the top of the first, but that’s about all they would get off Keller over his six innings of work that included double-digit strikeouts and only five hits.
Pittsburgh would answer right back in the first with three runs of their own from a Bryan Reynolds single, a Rodolfo Castro sac-fly and a check-swing single from Jack Suwinski.
Keller and Urias would settle the offenses for quite awhile, but Connor Joe would homer in the sixth inning to score Andrew McCutchen to extend the lead to 5-2, but Rodolfo Castro didn’t think that was enough as he homered the next at-bat to extend the lead to 6-2.
Duane Underwood Jr., Jose Hernandez and David Bednar would combine for three perfect innings of work, each getting one strikeout to their name and David Bednar keeping pace among the NL lead in saves.
On top of all this, the story of Drew Maggi continued, as he got the start at 3B today to continue his feel good story after being called up on Sunday and receiving his first MLB action on Wednesday night.
The Pirates move to 18-8, the first time they’ve been ten games over .500 since 2015 and head to D.C. to take on the Washington Nationals for three games.
News & Notes
- Mitch Keller line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO
- Julio Urias line: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
- Pirates move to 10-plus games over .500 for first time since 2015
- Pirates have won seven of their last eight against the Dodgers dating back to last season
Inside The Bucs Basement 