Despite a rocky six-walk outing in Phoenix, Pittsburgh Pirates rookie pitcher Bubba Chandler remains confident in his big-league stuff.
The growing pains continue for Bubba Chandler, but the Pittsburgh Pirates aren’t panicking.
The rookie right-hander had a tough outing on Tuesday night when the Pirates were blanked 9-0 by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series at Chase Field in Phoenix. It was a disappointing start to a six-game road trip that also includes a stop in San Francisco and follows a three-game weekend sweep of the Cincinnati Reds in Pittsburgh.
Of course, Chandler could have pitched a perfect game on Tuesday, and it might not have been enough to win. Diamondbacks left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez and two relievers combined on a two-hit shutout.
Chandler allowed two runs and two hits over five innings, striking out six and holding Arizona scoreless after a 38-pitch first. However, he walked six, as control issues persist.
Chandler has 26 walks in 34 innings over seven starts. Cutting his mullet and shaving his mustache didn’t help his control on Tuesday.
He walked three in the first inning but was encouraged by his performance afterward. He's 1-3 with a 4.76 ERA.
“I'm a Major League Baseball player, I should learn after each pitch, definitely each outing," Chandler told reporters after the game. “Feel like I've done well. I've done a whole lot in the big leagues. There are variables, but I'm ready. I'm prepared for this level. Just got to be better in a couple places, and once I can do that, I'm going to start rolling."
There is little doubt that Chandler could blossom into an excellent MLB pitcher. Coming into spring training, he was rated as baseball’s No. 11 prospect by MLB Pipeline, No. 12 by Baseball Prospectus, and No. 15 by Baseball America.
Bench coach Kristopher Negron was the Pirates’ acting manager on Tuesday night while Don Kelly served a one-game suspension from MLB for an incident last Saturday when Pittsburgh reliever Chris Devenski was ruled to have intentionally thrown at the Reds’ Sal Stewart. Devenski was suspended for three games, but the suspension was reduced to two following negotiations between the Major League Baseball Players Association and MLB.
Negron was glad Chandler kept the game close early. Chandler left trailing 2-0, but the Diamondbacks scored five on Yohan Ramirez in the sixth to make it 7-0.
"Bubba got himself into a little bit of trouble early with the walks, but cheers to him," Negron said. "I talked to him after and told him I was really proud of him for the way he battled back. That first inning got out of hand a little bit and got away from him, but he only allowed two hits, limited the damage to just two runs, and then obviously had a few more walks after that, but for the most part, he did an unbelievable job of grinding through and getting through five innings. I was really proud to see that.”
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