Pirates sweep White Sox, extend winning streak to 4 before All-Star break

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ most reliable starting pitcher (who won’t be in the All-Star Game) lasted only three innings on Sunday, but other pitchers backed up Mitch Keller in a 9-4 win over the Chicago White Sox.

The Pirates’ win at Granted Rite was their fourth in a row, their longest streak since opening the season with a 5-0 record, and gives them momentum heading into the All-Star break. The Pirates are 6 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in first place in the National League Central and 1 1/2 games out of the final National League wild card spot.

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

Another test of the Pirates’ ability to stay in the playoff hunt comes Friday when the Philadelphia Phillies, the National League East leader with the best record in Major League Baseball, open a three-game series at PNC Park.

The big hits that led to the Pirates’ sixth win in their past seven games — and a sweep of the three-game series — were Joey Bart’s long home run in the fourth that yielded three runs and Nick Gonzalez’s three-run home run in the seventh that yielded two runs. Gonzalez eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Rudy Tellez, and Kibrian Hayes and Josh Palacios added four more runs with doubles into the right-center field.

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

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

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

Manager Derek Shelton headed to his bullpen, where Quinn Brister, Kyle Nicholas, Carmen Mlodzinski, Colleen Holdman and Dennis Santana allowed two more runs in the final six innings.

The White Sox (27-71), who had a losing record before the break, scored a run in the first inning when Eloy Jimenez doubled with the bases loaded. The first three batters Keller faced reached base when Tommy Pham and Andrew Benintendi hit a single and Luis Robert Jr. walked.

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