The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-1 last night. Mitch Keller allowed five runs in five innings, although he allowed just one earned run. Keller was the victim of errors by Rodolfo Castro and Jae-Hwin Bae. Keller walked one and struck out eight. The Bucs lone run came on Andrew McCutchen’s sixth home run of the season.
Manager Derek Shelton was ejected in the fourth inning when he grew irate with how the pitch clock was being handled. This marks the second day in a row he has voiced his displeasure with the process in the series so far.
The Pirates have now lost three games in a row and will try to avoid a series sweep by the Rays today when they complete their three-game series at 1:10pm. Pre-game on WISR begins at 12:45pm.
Vince Velasquez will start the series finale for the Pirates. The righthander has delivered 18 consecutive scoreless innings, tied with Atlanta’s Max Fried for the longest active streak in MLB.
The Pirates return home following the game to begin a six-game home stand, beginning with Toronto tomorrow night.