CINCINNATI — For as challenging a second half of the season as it’s been at times for Mitch Keller, the right-hander’s woes cratered to new lows on Friday night.

Keller was tagged for eight earned runs across 3⅓ innings in an 8-3 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park, raising his ERA after the All-Star break to 5.68 and his seasonlong figure to 4.21. It took all of two batters for the Reds to build a lead against Keller, coming courtesy of a solo shot from catcher Tyler Stephenson in the first inning.

While Keller kept the Reds scoreless in the second, such wouldn’t be the case in an ugly third inning that featured three of his five walks. Stephenson ultimately got the best of Keller in that frame, too, smacking a bases-clearing double that put the game out of reach.

Beyond the box score, though, what was perhaps a more concerning development was Keller’s velocity on the whole being down.

Per Baseball Savant, Keller’s four-seam fastball averaged out to 92 mph, 2.4 mph below his season average. That qualified as Keller’s slowest average velocity on a heater since Sept. 21, 2021, and comes in conjunction with the majority of his pitches starting to tick down a few notches on the radar gun in recent weeks.

While such isn’t to be wholly unexpected this late in the season, it’s a bit of a troubling trend considering Keller’s workload. Including Friday’s start, Keller is 21⅓ innings shy of matching his career high (194⅓) set in the 2023 campaign.

It remains to be seen how the Pirates will manage Keller, considering he theoretically could make one more start this season as soon as the club’s final home series against the Brewers. Regardless, Keller has not finished out a season strong for the second straight year, and the Pirates’ 82nd defeat in 2024 guaranteed a sixth straight losing campaign.

On the mound

Joey Wentz did an admirable job of covering some needed innings in relief of Keller, tossing 2⅔ shutout frames while yielding only one hit and striking out three batters. But the more noteworthy reliever was right-hander Isaac Mattson, who made his first MLB appearance since 2021.

Mattson, 29, was added to the Pirates roster on Thursday after spending the majority of the 2024 campaign with Triple-A Indianapolis. The right-hander tossed two scoreless innings and struck out a pair in the eighth. Mattson relied heavily on his four-seam fastball while mixing in occasional changeups.

At the plate

The Pirates’ offensive exploits were few and far between against Reds starter Nick Martinez, who threw six shutout innings and struck out nine. Matters changed for the better once Martinez departed in the form of a solo shot home run by Oneil Cruz, his career-high 20th of the season.

With that four-bagger, Cruz has reached the 20-homer and 20-stolen base mark for the first time in his career. He is the 10th different Pirates player to have a 20-20 season and the first since Starling Marte did so in 2019.

Up next

Saturday: Pirates at Reds, 1:10 p.m.

Probable pitchers: RHP Jared Jones (6-7, 3.85) for Pirates; RHP Rhett Lowder (1-2, 1.74) for Reds

Key matchup: Jones will make his first career start against the Reds but has already become quite familiar with other opponents in the division. The right-handed rookie has made five starts against National League Central foes, compiling a 4.30 ERA in the process.

Hidden stat: The Pirates have won the last four series against the Reds, matching their longest series-winning streak against a single opponent since 2018.

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