Lack of breaking stuff stings Keller as Pirates keep on searching

LOS ANGELES -- Since the start of May, few have been as consistent as Mitch Keller. Entering play Friday, the only starting pitcher who could best his 2.34 ERA was his teammate, Paul Skenes. He tied a Modern Era franchise record for most starts with at least five innings pitched. While Skenes and Jared Jones have grabbed most of the headlines for the team, he’s been the staff’s leader.

And on Friday, he had an off night. He surrendered a season-high seven runs over just four innings, digging too deep a hole at Dodger Stadium for the Pirates to crawl out of as they took a 9-5 loss against the Dodgers.

The loss extends the Pirates’ losing streak to five games, dropping them to three games under .500 (56-59) and further back in the National League Wild Card picture. Unless they can right the ship quickly, this stretch of seven losses in eight games -- almost exclusively to National League West clubs -- seems to have put the season in jeopardy.

"It sucks,” said Keller. “We're trying to win every single game. Obviously, we know what's at stake. It sucks to have a bad stretch here."

Keller and Derek Shelton had the same assessment of his evening: He had his fastball, but not his secondary offerings. The Dodgers capitalized on those breaking pitches, starting with Freddie Freeman pulling a 2-0 cutter for a solo shot in the first. In the third, Shohei Ohtani would launch a slider a Statcast-projected 448 feet to dead center. Will Smith and Miguel Rojas would also pick up RBIs off a cutter and slider, respectively, in that five-run third.

One of the reasons why Keller is normally so effective is his wide range of pitches. He’s not shy to lean on one or two offerings or try something new. After all, it was in this building two years ago that he unveiled his sinker and hammered the Dodgers with it in the start that many in the organization consider as the day he broke out. It doesn’t mean that he’ll need any of his seven pitches every game, but usually he can find that mix of a particular breaking ball or two that can play with his fastballs. That just didn’t happen Friday, and he needed to lean on his fastball to just get through his four-inning, 95-pitch night, allowing seven runs and seven hits along the way.

“It just didn't have the same bite that we'd seen,” Shelton said about Keller’s breaking pitches. “The fastball actually played. Just the breaking stuff wasn't sharp. With this lineup, if you miss on the plate with breaking stuff, they're going to hurt you, and that's what happened."

Domingo Germán, who had his contract selected from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier Friday, was able to cover the final four innings, allowing just two runs on an Enrique Hernández homer that ticked off Bryan Reynolds’ glove. The offense would get a couple home run swings from Oneil Cruz and Joey Bart to stay in the game, but the Dodgers wouldn’t let them back to within arm’s reach after building that early lead.

This five-game losing streak is the second longest on the year for the Pirates, who had a six-game skid from April 15-21. They had avoided long stretches like this, and while they started their second-half gauntlet strong, they haven’t been able to keep up the momentum, putting themselves in a rough spot.

"We're gonna flush this game, come back tomorrow and act like it never happened,” Keller said. “We're gonna start the game off zero-zero tomorrow and try to start a new winning streak. No one is hanging their head in here. We know what's at stake and we know what we need to do. Flush it, come back tomorrow and win tomorrow."