Pirates sweep White Sox series, stretch winning streak to 4 entering All-Star break

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ most reliable starting pitcher (who’s not going to the All-Star Game) lasted only three innings Sunday, but others had Mitch Keller’s back during a 9-4 victory against the Chicago White Sox.

The victory at Guaranteed Rate Field was the Pirates’ fourth in a row, their longest winning streak since opening the season 5-0, and gives the team momentum entering the All-Star break. Before the game, the Pirates were 6 1/2 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central and 2 1/2 off the NL’s final wild-card berth.

The Pirates (48-48) haven’t been .500 or better at the break since 2016.

Further testing of the Pirates’ ability to remain in the playoff chase comes up Friday when the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies, who have the best record in MLB, open a three-game series at PNC Park.

The big blows leading to the Pirates’ sixth victory in their past seven outings — and sweep of the three-game series — were catcher Joey Bart’s three-run homer in the fourth and Nick Gonzales’ two-run triple in the seventh. Gonzales eventually scored on Rowdy Tellez’s sacrifice fly, and Ke’Bryan Hayes and Josh Palacios punctuated the four-run outburst by ripping doubles into the right-center gap.

Hayes collected three hits and has more than one in three consecutive games to raise his batting average from .227 on June 28 to .244.

Bryan Reynolds added his 18th home run in the eighth inning, a personal best before the All-Star break. The Pirates have scored 40 runs in their past seven games.

Keller left the game after three innings and 57 pitches, allowing two runs, four hits and three walks while striking out three. That ended Keller’s streak of 49 consecutive starts of five innings or more, tied with A.J. Burnett for second-most in franchise history.

Manager Derek Shelton turned to his bullpen, with Quinn Priester, Kyle Nicolas, Carmen Mlodzinski, Colin Holderman and Dennis Santana giving up two more runs in the final six innings.

The White Sox scored a run in the first inning when Eloy Jimenez grounded into a bases-loaded double play. The first three batters Keller faced reached base when Tommy Pham and Andrew Benintendi singled and Luis Robert Jr. walked.

Benintendi, who was 3 for 3 with three runs scored, homered in the third inning to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead. The Pirates had tied the score 1-1 in the top of the inning when Reynolds was hit by a pitch and Oneil Cruz doubled.