Chandler tough on himself after pitching 'soft' to Phils' big boppers

PITTSBURGH – Bubba Chandler’s rookie season is taking a bad turn.

The Pirates’ right-hander entered Spring Training ranked as the 11th-best prospect in baseball. He had a respectable showing in 31 1/3 innings in the Major Leagues late last season.

However, Chandler’s record fell to 1-5 on Saturday as he lasted just three innings in the Pirates’ 6-0 loss to the Phillies at PNC Park. The Pirates have dropped the first two games of the three-game series.

Chandler has lost or had a no-decision in each of his last five starts since beating the Rays on April 17 and has a 6.95 ERA in that span. His season ERA rose to 5.14 in nine starts, after he was tagged for five runs (four earned) on three hits while walking four and striking out two on Saturday.

“It was a tough start there in the first couple of innings, throwing 60-some pitches in two innings,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “To get him out after the third, it was just pitch count and volume, and he slipped on the mound there. Just didn't want to push it there any further. We had enough to get through the game in the bullpen.”

Chandler ran into trouble right from the beginning when he gave up a single to Trea Turner to start the game, then walked Kyle Schwarber. Bryce Harper followed with a Statcast-projected 457-foot blast into the shrubbery beyond the center-field fence that gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead.

Schwarber doubled home a run in the second inning, and another run scored on a throwing error by right fielder Jared Triolo, who made just the second appearance of his four-year career at the position.

A somber Chandler summed up his outing in five words: “Not executing anything. That’s it.”

Chandler put himself in a tough spot by walking Schwarber, who leads MLB with 20 home runs and had gone deep nine times in the previous eight games. It was picking your poison, though, with Harper on deck.

“Turner, Schwarber, and Harper, there aren't many top threes in the league that can match the production that those guys have had over the course of their careers,” Kelly said. “To hit that ball to center field, the wind was kind of blowing in too. Harper killed that ball.”

Chandler blamed himself for not meeting the early challenge and called himself “soft.”

“They’re good players,” Chandler said of the Turner-Schwarber-Harper triumvirate. “I’ve watched them play for the last decade, and they’re all three really good. Just soft, pitching away, just not being who I am.”

Rookie Konnor Griffin, Bryan Reynolds and Nick Gonzales each had two hits for the Pirates, and five relievers combined to allow one run in six innings.

Yet even if Chandler had pitched a gem, it probably wouldn’t have been enough for the Pirates. Left-hander Cristopher Sánchez pitched a six-hit shutout and had a career-high 13 strikeouts.

“He mixes it up,” Kelly said of Sánchez. “Sinker was elite today. The slider and changeup, he could throw for strikes, he could throw beneath the zone. Everything comes out and looks the same. He was in control for most of the game."