Backed by Cruz (HR) and Lowe (3-for-5, 2 RBIs), Chandler earns first win

PITTSBURGH – You’re unlikely to hear an excuse from Bubba Chandler after a less than stellar outing on the mound. Quite the opposite actually.

The right-hander has filed plenty of grievances about his own pitching through the first few weeks of the season, mostly related to struggles with command resulting in shorter outings. In his previous home start earlier this month against the Padres, the 23-year-old Pirate vowed to be better. Facing off against the Rays – one of MLB’s top offenses through 18 games – Friday night, Chandler made good on his promise with his best outing of the season in Pittsburgh’s 5-1 series-opening victory at PNC Park.

"I was gonna get it fixed,” Chandler said. “It's a long year, but you're constantly tweaking things, critiquing stuff. Just a little more mentality-based, probably. Didn't change anything, just got a little more comfortable.”

Chandler allowed just three hits and a run over a season-high six innings en route to his first win of the season. He only struck out three, but much more importantly, allowed just one free pass. Chandler entered the game having walked 12 batters in his prior three starts this season, tied for sixth-most in MLB entering Friday’s game.

"Just being confident in what was called and throwing,” Chandler said. “Getting ahead — you set yourself up for success when you're ahead in the count. Do a lot more things, throw a lot more pitches. That was the plan and we executed."

Chandler struck out a pair of Rays in an eight-pitch, 1-2-3 first inning, before needing just 11 pitches to get through the second. He worked around a one-out single in the third inning, pitched himself out of a pair of three-ball counts in the fourth, and needed just 12 pitches to get through the fifth.

His lone blemish came in the sixth inning after allowing a two-out, infield single to Chandler Simpson on a ball that deflected off his glove. A wild pitch got Simpson to second and the Rays' outfielder later scored on a base hit by Junior Caminero.

After walking Jonathan Aranda, pitching coach Bill Murphy called a mound visit, where Chandler was able to settle down, refocus and ultimately get Yandy Díaz to pop out to end the threat, finishing the outing on his own terms for the first time this season.

He needed just 90 pitches (62 strikes) to get through six innings.

Chandler used his four-seam fastball to get himself ahead in counts. While he entered the game with a whiff rate of 29.1%, he pitched to contact for the bulk of his outing.

“I think that the thing we see with Bubba is when he's in the zone, he can get swing and miss, but you don't have to go for the punchout,” manager Don Kelly said. “Just be able to throw it in the zone, keep ‘em off balance, and he did a great job of that.”

The third time through the order has been a period of trouble for Chandler this season. Despite allowing 13.5 walks/9 innings during that period (two walks of nine batters faced), he was able to limit the damage to just the one run.

“I thought Bubba set the tone early in the zone and really competed with all of his pitches,” Kelly said. “[He was] attacking, and attacking with everything.”

The outing brought his ERA down to 3.15 and opponents’ batting average down to just .183.

"I'm relentless in the zone,” Chandler said. “I think our whole staff is. Starters, bullpen guys want to be relentless in the zone, and we want to attack. We don't want to give guys chances by walking them and getting behind in counts."

Marcell Ozuna singled and scored in the second inning, and Oneil Cruz hammered a two-run home run into the right-field seats in the sixth to carry the freight offensively.

Brandon Lowe also went 3-for-5 against his former team, delivering a two-run double for insurance in the eighth.

“He was electric tonight,” Lowe said of Chandler. “His stuff was unbelievable. He was locating for the most part. Obviously there were a couple pitches in there that he probably wants back, but I think as a whole he looked really good out there today.”