ARLINGTON – Bubba Chandler was just learning to drive when Jacob deGrom won his first Cy Young in 2018. But the two squared off Thursday night, a much-anticipated pitching duel between a couple of right-handers with 100 mph heat at different places in their careers.
Chandler was making just his ninth Major League start, while deGrom was making his 253rd.
Experience won out, with deGrom leading the Rangers to a 6-1 victory at Globe Life Field. It was a largely forgettable night for Chandler, who allowed six earned runs on seven hits over four innings, his shortest outing of the season.
“Flush it. That’s about it,” said Chandler, who walked three and struck out four. “Didn't execute a lot of pitches. Did some but made a lot of mistakes. They hit the ball well tonight. Flush it. Don't care about it. Move on. That’s about all I can do.”
Chandler went on to downplay the battle with deGrom, even though it was his first career start opposite a bona fide ace of deGrom’s stature.
“I don't necessarily pay attention to who's throwing,” he said. “I love Jacob deGrom. He’s a hero of mine, but I want to beat him. I want our boys to knock him out the first inning and embarrass him. And [the Rangers] embarrassed me tonight.
"Don't really pay attention [to the opposing starter]. I'm in the tunnel, so I only know what's going on about the last pitch of the inning, so I don't know. The couple pitches I did see him throw, he did a great job. It's fun watching him. Been watching him for forever now.”
Chandler worked out of jams and matched deGrom with zeros the first two innings before running into trouble in the third and fourth.
Rangers center fielder Evan Carter roped a ball to right-center field that ricocheted off the wall enough to allow Carter to race around the bases for a two-out, two-run inside-the-park homer in the third. In the fourth, Chandler issued consecutive walks to Josh Smith and Alejandro Osuna, the Rangers’ Nos. 8-9 hitters. Smith scored on a one-out RBI single by Joc Pederson before Corey Seager swatted a two-run shot into the right-field seats to extend the Rangers’ lead to 6-0.
Chandler regretted the pitch to Seager, leaving a 1-0 changeup middle in. But in the long run, this game should carry plenty of lessons for the young right-hander.
"Their pitcher was throwing 100 miles an hour at the top of the zone with really good secondary," said Rangers manager about Chandler. "He was a little bit erratic at times, but I mean, when he's inside the strike zone, it's really, really good. We knew we had our work cut out for us. I thought our guys did really good at making sure he stayed inside the strike zone."
Before the game, Pirates manager Don Kelly talked about how the only way to learn and grow in the game is by experiencing situations like the one Chandler was going into opposite deGrom. Kelly likened it to postseason baseball.
“Something that I think that I’ve learned is that everybody has to learn that on their own when they get out there,” Kelly said. “We can sit here and talk about playoff baseball all we want, but until you get to experience it, you really don’t understand or appreciate it because you haven’t been there.
"I think for our guys, especially these young pitchers, to be out on the mound and learn, sometimes that learning is watching somebody else do it, but a lot of times it’s going to be yourself being out there and learning how to navigate those emotions. Bubba’s done a really good job of that this season.”
One poor outing doesn’t change that, of course. This is a pitcher who threw six innings of one-run ball in his previous start against the Rays on Friday. And Chandler has shown the ability to recover from poor starts.
Kelly mentioned Chandler’s start late last season when he gave up nine runs over 2 2/3 innings against the Brewers on Sept. 7. Chandler responded with six innings of one-run ball against the Nationals and closed the season with two more solid starts vs. the Athletics and Braves.
“It’s just learning through the opportunities and finding ways to grow through it. We saw him do it last year,” Kelly said. “He’s an elite young pitcher, and it's [about] learning through these moments and what he’s got to do to be able to slow the game down, and in those moments find ways to attack and get outs.”