Deadspin | Behind Mitch Keller, Pirates chase series win vs. Padres 
Apr 3, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller (23) delivers a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Mitch Keller will try to continue the Pittsburgh Pirates’ strong start while fellow right-hander Michael King will bid to get the visiting San Diego Padres back on track when the teams play the decisive contest of a three-game series on Wednesday afternoon.
Keller (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will seek his second victory of the season, a total he did not hit last year until his 17th start.
King (0-1, 3.38) will look to bounce back after taking his first loss last Friday at Boston.
Keller, who went 6-15 with a 4.19 ERA last season, often pitched well enough to win more starts than he did. He put together 17 quality starts in his 32 outings, but he often was the victim of a lack of run support.
Keller traditionally has struggled against the Padres, going 2-5 with a 5.84 ERA in seven career starts. But he has back-to-back quality starts to open this season. And it could be a different story if the Pirates’ season-opening trend of hitting and producing runs continues.
In Keller’s most recent outing last Friday at home against Baltimore, he gave up two runs on six hits and four walks while striking out four. An early four-run second inning was enough of a cushion for Pittsburgh to secure Keller the victory in a 5-4 game.
“Just attacking the zone and we got ahead,” Keller said after the start. “The sinker was good and we got some double plays. But there was some bad too … walks. You don’t want to have those leadoff walks and have them make something out of nothing.”
The Pirates are averaging 4.7 runs through their first 11 games after averaging 3.6 per game last season. They broke a 15-inning scoreless streak in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s 7-1 win over the Padres and tacked on five runs in the eighth.
King will try to silence those bats after giving up four runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings in a 5-2 loss to the Red Sox on Friday. It was a downturn following his season-opening start against the Tigers on March 27, when he allowed one unearned run on one hit in five innings. He had a no-decision in the Padres’ 5-2 loss.
King is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates. He will be tasked with giving San Diego’s offense a chance to bounce back after it was held to three hits on Tuesday.
The low output followed a stretch of two games in which San Diego totaled 13 runs and appeared to be breaking out of its early-season offensive doldrums.
The Padres have 38 runs this season, tied for the sixth fewest in the majors.
One bright spot in Tuesday’s defeat was the solo home run by Xander Bogaerts off Pirates ace Paul Skenes. It was Bogaerts’ first home run this year and his sixth hit in his past 11 at-bats after mustering only four in his first 32.
“When we ended spring training, we felt really good about how he was swinging the bat,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “He looked like the Xander Bogaerts we expected to see. For a couple of games, he got off a bit, and now he’s back. That bodes well for him for the rest of the season.”
–Field Level Media
#Deadspin #Mitch #Keller #Pirates #chase #series #win #Padres
Apr 3, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller (23) delivers a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Mitch Keller will try to continue the Pittsburgh Pirates’ strong start while fellow right-hander Michael King will bid to get the visiting San Diego Padres back on track when the teams play the decisive contest of a three-game series on Wednesday afternoon.
Keller (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will seek his second victory of the season, a total he did not hit last year until his 17th start.
King (0-1, 3.38) will look to bounce back after taking his first loss last Friday at Boston.
Keller, who went 6-15 with a 4.19 ERA last season, often pitched well enough to win more starts than he did. He put together 17 quality starts in his 32 outings, but he often was the victim of a lack of run support.
Keller traditionally has struggled against the Padres, going 2-5 with a 5.84 ERA in seven career starts. But he has back-to-back quality starts to open this season. And it could be a different story if the Pirates’ season-opening trend of hitting and producing runs continues.
In Keller’s most recent outing last Friday at home against Baltimore, he gave up two runs on six hits and four walks while striking out four. An early four-run second inning was enough of a cushion for Pittsburgh to secure Keller the victory in a 5-4 game.
“Just attacking the zone and we got ahead,” Keller said after the start. “The sinker was good and we got some double plays. But there was some bad too … walks. You don’t want to have those leadoff walks and have them make something out of nothing.”
The Pirates are averaging 4.7 runs through their first 11 games after averaging 3.6 per game last season. They broke a 15-inning scoreless streak in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s 7-1 win over the Padres and tacked on five runs in the eighth.
King will try to silence those bats after giving up four runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings in a 5-2 loss to the Red Sox on Friday. It was a downturn following his season-opening start against the Tigers on March 27, when he allowed one unearned run on one hit in five innings. He had a no-decision in the Padres’ 5-2 loss.
King is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates. He will be tasked with giving San Diego’s offense a chance to bounce back after it was held to three hits on Tuesday.
The low output followed a stretch of two games in which San Diego totaled 13 runs and appeared to be breaking out of its early-season offensive doldrums.
The Padres have 38 runs this season, tied for the sixth fewest in the majors.
One bright spot in Tuesday’s defeat was the solo home run by Xander Bogaerts off Pirates ace Paul Skenes. It was Bogaerts’ first home run this year and his sixth hit in his past 11 at-bats after mustering only four in his first 32.
“When we ended spring training, we felt really good about how he was swinging the bat,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “He looked like the Xander Bogaerts we expected to see. For a couple of games, he got off a bit, and now he’s back. That bodes well for him for the rest of the season.”
–Field Level Media
![Vox Creative, Roku debut new docuseries on history of American soccer The history of American soccer has spanned well over 120 years, and to date there hasn’t been many opportunities to look back at that history. With the 2026 World Cup about a month away, we now have a chance to do just that. Yesterday, SB Nation collaborated with Vox Creative and Roku to release Soccer Meets America, a 3-part docuseries that focuses on the rise of soccer in the United States.Soccer Meets America focuses around the meteoric rise in popularity, from the North American Soccer League days of the 1970s and 1980s to the 1984 Olympics, leading up to the 1994 World Cup. At the center of that history was Alan Rothenberg, who served as soccer commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1990 to 1998, and the CEO of the 1994 World Cup. He also had a hand in the start of Major League Soccer, adding women’s soccer to the Olympic program in 1996, and bringing the 1999 Women’s World Cup to the United States.Rothenberg recently released a new book entitled The Big Bounce: The Surge that Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer. In the book, Rothenberg gives an inside account at how American soccer went from the days where leagues were not organized and fizzled quickly to some of the success we have today with leagues like Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues. He details his firsthand knowledge of what it took for the United States to host a successful soccer tournament at the 1984 Olympics, how the nation won the bid to host the 1994 World Cup, and how he was able to organize the federation to get everything done and push the game forward. He recently sat down for an interview on the USA Soccercast, and in that interview, he mentioned that the rise in popularity of the game wasn’t based on one big moment, but a sustained buildup of momentum.“[American soccer] sort of grew when I was starting in 1990,” Alan Rothenberg, former U.S. Soccer president and CEO of the 1994 World Cup, said in an interview for the USA Soccercast. “I had a glimpse of it back in the 70s when we had a team in Los Angeles ,and obviously the Cosmos set the world on fire at that time with Pelé and [Franz] Beckebauer…you had Giants Stadium. So there were those glimpses of what the future could hold. But as we started to build the soccer federation, our [1994] World cup team and the World cup organization, it just started to accelerate. So there wasn’t one ‘a ha!’ moment.”Soccer Meets America takes the unique yet unexpected path of professional soccer in the United States andn gives the story some definition. Through people like Rothenberg, we see that the history is shaped by chance, persistence, and communities that kept the game alive long before it found mainstream recognition. Starting with the sport’s deep roots in immigrant communities in the 1920s, each episode of the docuseries explores soccer on a personal and professional level. Both nostalgic and forward-facing, the series features a variety of influential figures in American soccer and aims to resonate with new and old fans of the sport alike.But there’s also the legacy of the 2026 World Cup, which will be different from what it was in 1994. “Well, obviously we’re starting from a different baseline,” Rothenberg said. “We started at virtually zero back in [1990], and now we’re starting from level 60 or 75…so the dramatic consequences will not be the same as they were after 94, but I think it’s going to be a huge spike in interest in the sport at all levels.”To grow the history, you must learn from it. And Soccer Meets America gives you a review of America’s soccer history and strengthes the foundations from which the sport’s culture and passion were created. As we approach the World Cup, that knowledge will be essential to craft the legacy that will carry long after the tournament ends. #Vox #Creative #Roku #debut #docuseries #history #American #soccer](https://i3.wp.com/platform.sbnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/gettyimages-2273772608.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C10.740350081171%2C100%2C78.519299837658&w=1200&ssl=1 "Vox Creative, Roku debut new docuseries on history of American soccer The history of American soccer has spanned well over 120 years, and to date there hasn’t been many opportunities to look back at that history. With the 2026 World Cup about a month away, we now have a chance to do just that. Yesterday, SB Nation collaborated with Vox Creative and Roku to release Soccer Meets America, a 3-part docuseries that focuses on the rise of soccer in the United States.Soccer Meets America focuses around the meteoric rise in popularity, from the North American Soccer League days of the 1970s and 1980s to the 1984 Olympics, leading up to the 1994 World Cup. At the center of that history was Alan Rothenberg, who served as soccer commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1990 to 1998, and the CEO of the 1994 World Cup. He also had a hand in the start of Major League Soccer, adding women’s soccer to the Olympic program in 1996, and bringing the 1999 Women’s World Cup to the United States.Rothenberg recently released a new book entitled The Big Bounce: The Surge that Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer. In the book, Rothenberg gives an inside account at how American soccer went from the days where leagues were not organized and fizzled quickly to some of the success we have today with leagues like Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues. He details his firsthand knowledge of what it took for the United States to host a successful soccer tournament at the 1984 Olympics, how the nation won the bid to host the 1994 World Cup, and how he was able to organize the federation to get everything done and push the game forward. He recently sat down for an interview on the USA Soccercast, and in that interview, he mentioned that the rise in popularity of the game wasn’t based on one big moment, but a sustained buildup of momentum.“[American soccer] sort of grew when I was starting in 1990,” Alan Rothenberg, former U.S. Soccer president and CEO of the 1994 World Cup, said in an interview for the USA Soccercast. “I had a glimpse of it back in the 70s when we had a team in Los Angeles ,and obviously the Cosmos set the world on fire at that time with Pelé and [Franz] Beckebauer…you had Giants Stadium. So there were those glimpses of what the future could hold. But as we started to build the soccer federation, our [1994] World cup team and the World cup organization, it just started to accelerate. So there wasn’t one ‘a ha!’ moment.”Soccer Meets America takes the unique yet unexpected path of professional soccer in the United States andn gives the story some definition. Through people like Rothenberg, we see that the history is shaped by chance, persistence, and communities that kept the game alive long before it found mainstream recognition. Starting with the sport’s deep roots in immigrant communities in the 1920s, each episode of the docuseries explores soccer on a personal and professional level. Both nostalgic and forward-facing, the series features a variety of influential figures in American soccer and aims to resonate with new and old fans of the sport alike.But there’s also the legacy of the 2026 World Cup, which will be different from what it was in 1994. “Well, obviously we’re starting from a different baseline,” Rothenberg said. “We started at virtually zero back in [1990], and now we’re starting from level 60 or 75…so the dramatic consequences will not be the same as they were after 94, but I think it’s going to be a huge spike in interest in the sport at all levels.”To grow the history, you must learn from it. And Soccer Meets America gives you a review of America’s soccer history and strengthes the foundations from which the sport’s culture and passion were created. As we approach the World Cup, that knowledge will be essential to craft the legacy that will carry long after the tournament ends. #Vox #Creative #Roku #debut #docuseries #history #American #soccer")
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