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.
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.
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 an infield single to Chandler Simpson that deflected off of his glove. A wild pitch got Simpson to second and he later scored on a base hit by Junior Caminero. After a walk to Jonathan Aranda, Chandler was able to limit damage by getting Yandy Díaz to pop out.
Chandler got himself ahead in counts throughout his outing and used offspeed pitches to induce weak contact. The third time through the order has been a period of trouble for him this season, allowing 13.5 walks/9 innings during that time, but he was able to limit the damage to just the one run.
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.