Pirates' Mitch Keller: Fades late in Tuesday's win

Keller (9-4) picked up the win in Tuesday's 9-5 victory over the Reds, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks over 5.2 innings. He struck out six.

An Oneil Cruz error and a hit by pitch helped load the bases in the third inning, but Keller escaped the jam by striking out Jeimer Candelario and Spencer Steer. The right-hander seemed to run out of gas after that, eventually getting tagged for three runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth as he fell short of his 10th quality start of the season. Keller has still allowed more than three earned runs only once in nine outings since the beginning of May, going 7-1 over that stretch with a 1.85 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 52:12 K:BB through 58.1 innings. He'll look for win No. 10 on the year in his next trip to the mound, which lines up to come at home next week against the Cardinals.