Perhaps it was the uniforms — City Connects, arguably the best in Major League Baseball. Or the presence of A.J. Burnett and Doug Drabek or Paul Skenes procuring a bunch of hardware pregame.
It could’ve been a beautiful night, the revved-up crowd, fireworks or dreams of what this eventually could become.
But something about the Pirates’ 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday at PNC Park felt different. It felt a step beyond belief, closer to confidence, another game where Don Kelly’s club quickly wiped the slate clean and delivered a better effort.
Bubba Chandler twirled six innings of one-run ball. Oneil Cruz hit another absurd homer, Brandon Lowe took it to his former club, and the Pirates (12-8) scored four times with two outs.
An excellent, all-around effort.
“That was a better game,” Kelly said. “We’ve talked about it before, but the way the guys can put yesterday behind and bounce back … what a crowd tonight, too. To have the energy in the stadium, City Connects were awesome. I thought Bubba set the tone early — in the zone, really competed with all of his pitches. It was great.”
In many ways, what the Pirates did to another first-place team should serve as a template. We’ll break it down via my nine observations:
1. Chandler has struggled with fastball command and pitch efficiency in previous starts. He mastered both against Tampa Bay by adjusting his pitch mix.
The percentage of four-seam fastballs dropped by 10%, while Chandler upped his sweeper usage from 6% to 23% — or 21 of his 90 pitches. That’s how Chandler punctuated two of his three strikeouts, the new mix helping Chandler attack more.
"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."
2. A key moment in Chandler’s outing came in the sixth inning, when his command waned some.
After getting two outs, Chandler allowed a run on three straight singles. Smart move by Kelly, as he let his young pitcher try to get out of trouble while having Mason Montgomery ready for a looming left-on-left matchup.
Chandler got Yandy Diaz to pop out to first base.
“I don't want ‘Monty’ to come in there and have to get the hitter that I'm supposed to face out with my guys on base, because if those guys score, Monty's going to feel terrible about it,” Chandler said. “That's just a bad situation to put your teammates in."
3. Funny way how the Pirates broke this one open. It was a 1-1 game in the sixth when Cruz stepped to the plate with two outs. Griffin Jax threw him a 2-2 sweeper low and away. Really good pitch.
But Cruz got his bat on it and hooked it to right for his sixth home run.
“The thing that’s so impressive, he doesn’t have to muscle up to try to do that,” Kelly said.
“I think it’s pretty funny when you look at a guy and think, ‘That sounded terrible,’ and he hit it 103,” Lowe added.
Cruz is up to 19 RBIs, two shy of the MLB lead. He has a .970 OPS and is tied for the MLB lead in steals, all from the leadoff spot. Proving a lot of people wrong after that opening series.
4. I liked the way Chandler finishing the sixth set up the Pirates’ bullpen. Montgomery got a clean inning and pitched well again: He’s delivered 4 2/3 scoreless innings with one walk and nine strikeouts over his past five.
Gregory Soto and Dennis Santana, the Pirates’ two-headed closing monster, finished it off.
5. Nick Martinez probably never wants to face Spencer Horwitz again. Horwitz is 10 for 10 in his career against Martinez, including three for three on Friday. Horwitz drove in the Pirates’ first run by turning on a cutter middle-in.
Horwitz also drew a leadoff walk in the eighth to start a two-run rally. Don’t look now, but Horwitz is hitting .324 with a .917 OPS in April.
Per Elias, the only other Major League player in the Expansion Era (since 1961) who started his career 10 for 10 or better against a single pitcher was George Brett, who went 11 for 11 against Ed Figueroa (1975).
6. We’ve written a lot about Lowe recently, but he’s warranted it. He’s hitting .286 and has a 1.033 OPS. Only three MLB hitters have more home runs. Just six — one being Cruz — have more total bases.
Lowe has been everything the Pirates could ask for and then some. And he nearly hit his eighth homer in the eighth, when he got a four-seamer middle-away and pounded it 397 feet to right-center for a double.
“I’m just trying to take good at-bats, honestly,” Lowe said. “The guy showed to be pretty tough, getting some of our big guys out. With second and third in that situation, I wasn’t trying to do too much, just take a good swing.”
7. The last player to highlight is Marcell Ozuna, who finished with three hits. After a massive, early-season slump, Ozuna’s confidence has been growing. His average is up to .169.
The regular contact has arrived. The next step should be the power like we saw Thursday with his 423-foot blast against the Nationals. A big-time breakout game is not far off for Ozuna.
“I think he’s just being him and getting into a rhythm,” Kelly said.
8. The entire night took on a different feel because of the City Connects and Burnett throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. Always good to have Burnett back here — and even better to catch up with him pregame.
Loved Kelly bringing Burnett to Spring Training, something I fully expect to happen again, and I think Kelly will expand and bring back more former players next season.
As for Burnett and this year’s Pirates club, the man knows good, cohesive baseball. And he likes what he’s seeing out of this club.
“It just feels like the pieces they brought in are perfect fits for what they needed and what they didn’t have,” Burnett said. “That’s what happened with us. We were close in ’12. But the guys they brought in were the perfect pieces we needed. Seems to be working out that way.”
9. The Pirates’ City Connects trounce every other effort on this front. It’s not even close. From the in-game videos the Pirates produced to how these things popped on the field, they added so much.
Chandler and O’Hearn rocked some incredible red shoes, and Pirates players genuinely loved how everything looked.
"Awesome. I love them,” Chandler said of the City Connects. “I think they're the best in baseball All black is sweet. I was fired up I got to wear red cleats. Hadn't done that since the high school days. Whoever designed them did a great job."
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.