The Latest Breaking News from Mitch Keller

CINCINNATI — If the Pirates are going to achieve their big-picture goal this season — essentially to play a better brand of baseball and start winning games — the recipe they deployed on opening day in Cincinnati is a keeper.

The best and worst Opening Day 2023 matchups, ranked.

PITTSBURGH — It’s still possible the Pirates will lose 100 games this season, but they aren’t going quietly into that good night.

PITTSBURGH — There was a time when Miguel Andujar’s presence on the Pirates would have been a big deal.

PITTSBURGH — Everything about Thursday night’s Pirates game against the Chicago Cubs felt a little off.

NEW YORK — A second straight win, a wish fulfilled, a team that looks to be discovering itself again.

PITTSBURGH — The Mets have started playing poorly at a particularly unfortunate time.

PITTSBURGH — The Pirates and Mets were supposed to celebrate Labor Day together at PNC Park on Monday, opening a three-game series in the afternoon for the enjoyment of all those with a day off work.

MILWAUKEE — When Pirates fans envision late-game heroics from their rookie players, they probably imagine clutch base hits, maybe even a homer.

Last Friday, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said the quiet part out loud: "I think we are at a moment in time that progress should not be measured entirely by wins and losses."

As a handful of position players went through fielding drills and others took batting practice indoors, Wil Crowe and Mitch Keller talked like two Pirates fans at a corner bar around happy hour on Monday. While stretching and throwing in left field, Crowe and Keller began discussing the upcoming offseason,…