Since the start of Spring Training, one of the words cited often by Don Kelly has been resilience, the Pirates manager wanting it to define his team the same way it does his hometown.
An important, early-season test arrives Tuesday, as Kelly’s team played a game it can’t wait to move beyond Monday during a 5-0 loss to the Padres at PNC Park.
Bubba Chandler ripped his start and vowed to be better. Meanwhile, the Pirates had a few plays in the field and on the bases where better is expected, especially this season.
How the Pirates, who had won five in a row, respond to this one should say plenty about where they’re at as a team.
“We gotta get over it,” Kelly said. “We just won five games in a row, played really good baseball and swept the Orioles. We can't get caught up in the sweeps and can't get caught up in games like this.
“Just need to find a way to bounce back and come back [Tuesday] and play solid baseball."
There are certainly a few things to clean up from this one. That’s how we’ll start my postgame observations:
1. The first frustrating sequence came with Spencer Horwitz at the plate and Ryan O’Hearn rounding third in the second. Third-base coach Tony Beasley initially put up the stop sign, perhaps thinking the ball remained in the infield. But Beasley changed his mind when he saw Horwitz had a base hit. It was too late. O’Hearn was thrown out easily.
O’Hearn couldn’t go back to third because Nick Gonzales had seen the deflection — O’Hearn had his back to it — and was being aggressive, smartly trying to get to third base with one out.
As recently as the home opener Friday, Beasley has had several aggressive and correct sends. He misread a play. He wasn’t the first third-base coach to do that and won’t be the last.
Another issue came with Padres first baseman Gavin Sheets batting in the fourth. Chandler did not cover first base on a ground ball to the right side, negating a possible double-play turn. That hurt when the next batter, designated hitter Nick Castellanos, hammered an elevated slider to left for a two-out double.
Chandler knows he needs to cover first base in that situation. I also give him a lot of credit for owning his start. More on that below.
2. In the fourth, Bryan Reynolds missed a ball on the warning track. There was some wind, but no excuses. It’s a play that needs to be made and one he’s certainly capable of making.
The next inning, Yohan Ramirez was unable to field a grounder at 80.6 mph off the bat of third baseman Manny Machado. Ramirez still got an out, but it allowed a run to score.
It looked like Ramirez was maybe a little too amped, but again, he needs to make the play. He’s also worked more innings (6 2/3) than any other Pirates reliever, has a 2.70 ERA and has been excellent entering games with men on base. One mistake does not undo that.
3. The challenge for the Pirates, of course, is not letting this linger. Every baseball team over the course of 162 will inevitably have bad games. The good teams don’t let it become a trend. They learn what they can and move on.
“We've just got to keep going,” Kelly said. “It's easy in baseball to get caught up in the momentum and the outcomes and everything. It's something that, as a team, we have to continue to show up every day to get better and play clean baseball to go out to win."
4. The way the night began for Chandler, it looked like it might be special. His outing did not end with the same level of positivity.
Chandler struck out three over the first two innings, routinely clearing 100 mph with his fastball. But he ran into more control issues in the fourth and fifth.
Of the four walks Chandler issued, two came around to score. He wasn’t the least bit happy about that afterward.
“Pretty bad,” Chandler said. “It’s piss poor. Hits are fine. It’s stuff that’s gonna happen. Not competing in the zone is just pathetic. It’s eating at me. I’m gonna fix it, clean it up. I have five more days before I throw again. It won’t happen again.
“Very pissed off. Hate that we lost. I’m just setting our team up for failure right now with the guys having to come in out of the ‘pen a lot sooner than they should. Stuff’s gotta get cleaned up.”
5. If there’s a positive, Chandler’s changeup looked excellent, at one point forcing an ugly swing from catcher Freddy Fermin. But it continued the trend of too many walks, as the Pirates lead the National League with 49 walks.
Chandler lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with four walks. Kelly removed him after center fielder Jackson Merrill’s double that eluded Reynolds in left.
“I’m blessed and fortunate enough to have a good body, have a good arm,” Chandler said. “I should throw six, seven, eight innings every single time I go out there. Not doing that is pissing me off. It’ll clean up. I’ll get better.”
6. To their credit, the Pirates balanced that out with some strong defense, as well. Brandon Lowe covered a lot of ground to start a double play in the third before Oneil Cruz robbed Tatis with a sliding catch.
Konnor Griffin continued to show off his ability to defend with a diving stop in the fifth inning.
7. After sitting Sunday, Marcell Ozuna didn’t enjoy the breakout game he was hoping for, the Pirates designated hitter going 0 for 4 to drop his season average to .065. Speaking of slumps, Konnor Griffin is 0 for 12 since his RBI double in his first MLB plate appearance, with just one ball that has left the infield.
8. Spencer Horwitz finished with two hits. He was one of the Pirates’ best hitters last year but has gotten off to a slow start, removed from the lineup with a lefty on the mound and seemingly never finding a rhythm. Perhaps this can be a spark.
9. The old baseball adage, often repeated by Jim Leyland, is that momentum in baseball is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher. Good argument for the Pirates, as Paul Skenes will take the ball Tuesday opposite Nick Pivetta.
"Any time you get Paul on the mound, it's a good feeling to have him going out there,” Kelly said. "Looking forward to him having a really good start for us."
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.