Bubba Chandler Throwing His Opportunity With Pirates Away
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates needed a strong outing from right-handed starting pitcher Bubba Chandler, but the issues he's had all season came to the forefront,.
Chandler struggled in his start against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park on May 27, as he gave up eight hits, two walks and four earned runs over five innings in the eventual 10-4 defeat.
He didn't take a loss in the defeat, as the Pirates offense came through for him early on, but those eight hits are the most he's given up this season and the four earned runs are tied for the second-most.
It's another tough start for Chandler, who had seemed to find something in his last outing, but is back at it again with his recent issues.
What Went Wrong Against the Cubs
Chandler immediately started the game against the Cubs by loading the bases, walking two batters and giving up a single.
He got a strikeout, but then allowed a two-run single to left fielder Ian Happ, putting the Cubs up 2-0, before managing to get a double play to avoid any further runs scoring.
Chandler allowed three more hits in the second inning, including a RBI-single from second baseman Nico Hoerner with two outs to add another run and fall behind 3-0.
He threw a quick 1-2-3 third inning and then got the first two outs of the fourth inning, before giving up back-to-back doubles to shortstop Dansby Swanson and center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, adding another run, which gave the Cubs the lead back at 4-3.
Chandler finished his outing following the fifth inning, with the score tied 4-4, and the bullpen would go on and give up six runs in the loss.
It was a tough outing for Chandler, in that he didn't feel like things were too off, but that a few things just didn't go his way.
This includes Crow-Armstrong working a 10-pitch at-bat to start the game, catcher Carson Kelly getting a single in the second inning that Chandler deflected, which he would later score on.
“Tip your cap to Pete, I mean, long at-bat to start the game that ends in a walk, shoot that’s really good on his part," Chandler said postgame. "Not what I want to happen, of course, but got to tip your cap on that. Made a lot of really good pitches in that at-bat and he took some really good pitches, that last pitch, front-end sinker, took it, barely missed, it’s a really good at-bat from him.”
“I think some of the bloops, you know you can’t control it. Baseball’s a weird game. You execute your pitches and you give up hits and then you leave stuff hanging and you don’t give up hits and vice versa sometimes.
“I feel like tonight I executed a lot of pitches that fell and I didn’t execute some pitches that got caught or got swing-and-miss. It’s a game that we all chose to play and that we love. It’s a good AB and he put a good swing on a pitch later in the game, scored a run, but they’re good players.”
Chandler Staying Confident Despite Results
It's been a tough season for Chandler with the Pirates, with a 1-6 record in 11 starts, a 4.85 ERA over 52.0 innings pitched, 52 strikeouts to 36 walks, a .219 batting average allowed (BAA) and a 1.52 WHIP.
The Pirates are 2-9 when Chandler starts and they've lost the past seven starts he's pitched in, as they've gone 27-18 with another starter on the mound.
One of the thing that Chandler noted that has hurt him this season is the rough innings, where he gives up a few hits or walks and then things go from bad to worse, something that he is working on and improving upon.
“Yeah, I mean, just kind of keeping it the same thing," Chandler said. "Simplify the little things and limit big innings and I think that’s what’s killed me this year, whether it’s been walks and hits or hits or just straight walks and then big hits. Just big innings, you’re probably going to have them every start, but it’s about minimizing it.
“I just haven’t done a great job of minimizing what I do get in those situations of the big inning. The rest of the game goes fine, goes great, the big inning is just what kills you and I think stuff will start to turn around here soon. In a good headspace, stuff feels great. I think I did a good job of pitching tonight with pretty much just two pitches.
“It’s a good step to build off of, battled. Five innings is not great, but it’s kind of just what you got to get to and I think after the first, I could’ve packed it in and I didn’t, still gave up some runs after that, but kept our team in the game. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but tomorrow we’re going to win and we’ll be fine.”
The Pirates will get Jared Jones back from injury in the near future and there's always a chance that Chandler could lose his spot in the starting rotation when this happens.
Pirates manager Don Kelly has some tough decisions he'll have to make, but he sees a great pitcher in Chandler, one that is hard on himself, but has the talent to really become a top arm on the team for the future.
"I mean, there's electricity in there," Don Kelly said. "There's electricity in there. There's a young kid that's navigating the big leagues trying to figure it out. There's been some really, really good times and some electric stuff, and there's been some learning moments that we're always gonna deal with with young players that we've seen. We've seen Bubba really good and we've seen what he's able to do when he's on."
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Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.