Olivares' luck finally turns as slam backs Keller's CG

PITTSBURGH -- Edward Olivares knew off the bat that he had it. Angels starter Tyler Anderson was effective for most of Monday night at PNC Park, but his cutter was left out over the plate and Olivares didn’t miss, launching a 424-foot grand slam.

“Dream come true, for sure,” said a grinning Olivares, via interpreter and coach Stephen Morales.

That wound up being more than enough offense for Mitch Keller, who tossed a complete game in the Pirates’ 4-1 win over the Angels.

It was the third straight win for a team that is trying to put the past three weeks behind them and start cashing in on the quality starting pitching they’ve gotten this season. The Pirates are a remarkable 14-1 when they score at least four runs this season, but have been held to two runs or fewer in 14 of their last 18 contests.

So what better way to get to that seemingly magic number of four runs than with one swing?

"It's a huge boost,” said Keller. “We've been struggling, obviously. Just to break it open there, I think we had base runners on a lot of the innings, and for Olivares to just crank one out there, it lifted everyone in the dugout. It was a huge energy boost that we needed."

The team is looking for contributions anywhere at the moment, so a 2-for-4 game with a homer and a double from Olivares will certainly do. Those were his first extra-base hits since April 9, and he had been hitting just .095 (4-for-42) over his previous 13 games. Some of that can be chalked up to some inconsistent playing time, since Connor Joe’s play has made him fairly indispensable at the moment. Some of that might just be bad luck.

Entering play Monday, Olivares had the largest difference in MLB between actual batting average (.203) and expected batting average (.320), and the third-largest difference between weighted on-base average (.276) and expected wOBA (.371), among qualified hitters. Those expected stats are based on stats like the quality of contact, walk rates and strikeout rates. Olivares’ contact has caught the sweet spot of the bat 43.1% of the time, which ranks him in the top 6% of hitters, but has rarely been rewarded with hits so far.

Olivares made some swing changes this winter to help catch up to more fastballs and cutters. He was hitting .179 against those pitches entering play Monday compared to a .298 expected batting average. Those figures will even out a bit after Monday’s performance.

“Everyday work paid off today,” Olivares said. “Just continue to work and today was that day to cash in. The results are out there because of the hard work."

That unlucky streak came at a very inopportune time for an offense that was struggling to get much going for weeks. Having a couple of extra hits at key times would have gone a long way, but Olivares doesn’t want to play the what-if game.

“You lose some, you win some,” Olivares said. “That’s just part of the game.”

That would be all the offense the Pirates could generate Monday, but it was more than enough for Keller, who tossed his second career complete game. He had a four-pitch mix of his four-seamer, sinker, cutter and sweeper working, keeping the Angels off the barrel most of the night. His stuff also maintained its top form for most of the night, hitting 93 mph with his cutter and 97 mph with his fastball in the final at-bat of the game with Willie Calhoun at the plate. It was a big reason why manager Derek Shelton felt comfortable giving the ball to him again in the ninth.

“It was probably the best I've felt all year, obviously,” Keller said. “Just having the trust in me, because it was a 4-1 game, a save opportunity. Having them trust in me to go out there and finish the job was awesome."

Does Keller’s complete game step on Olivares’ accomplishment at all? If it does, the outfielder certainly doesn’t care.

"Just happy,” Olivares said, still smiling. “Just happy because we won the game. That's it."