Bubba

Chandler

Chandler struck out seven and walked two while pitching in bulk relief. Despite entering after an opener, he logged his longest outing since April 17. The Pirates recently bumped Carmen Mlodzinski from the rotation when Jared Jones came back, so Chandler needs to keep pitching like this to hold his spot. His next start lines up for a favorable matchup at home against Miami.

Chandler served up a two-run homer to Yordan Alvarez in the first inning. He tossed a scoreless second, then surrendered an unearned run in the third after the leadoff man reached on an error. The Astros would bring one more run across in the fourth on a pair of hits. Chandler gave the Pirates one more inning, tossing a clean fifth to leave in line for a win. The 23-year-old right-hander will take a 4.89 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, and a 55/38 K/BB ratio across 57 innings into a tough start against the Braves in Atlanta on Sunday.

Things almost spun out of control quickly for Chandler here. He let the first three batters he faced reach base via two walks and a single and then Ian Happ got him for a two-run knock. A timely double play on Chandler’s 32nd pitch of the inning stopped the bleeding there. He never particularly settled in, giving up a run each in the second and fourth innings, but it was at least nice to see him get through five when it felt like he could’ve been pulled before the first was over. Different from some of his other poor starts, Chandler had no issues throwing strikes. Instead, he continued to have another problem that’s stuck with him and could not put hitters away. The Cubs hit seven foul balls in two strike counts off Chandler and his only pitch that induced a two strike whiff was a fastball. He needs to find more breaking ball consistency to reach the level we thought was possible heading into this season. Overall, it’s a shame he could not build on the momentum of his fantastic last start and he’ll take a 4.85 ERA into a two-start week against the Astros and Braves with both outings set to come on the road.

Chandler notched three strikeouts in the first inning and kept the Jays off the board for the first two frames. He ran into trouble in the third after George Springer reached on a catcher’s interference and later came around to score, only for Yohendrick Piñango to later double home Daulton Varsho and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to put the Jays up 3-1. Despite having his strikeout pitch working all night in what was arguably his best start of the season, Chandler exited the game trailing and was eventually saddled with the loss. His next start is scheduled for Wednesday at home against the Cubs.

Chandler got in trouble right away, giving up a hit and a walk to put two runners on for Bryce Harper, who took him deep for a three-run blast to get the scoring started in the first inning. The Phillies piled on two more runs on a double by Kyle Schwarber in the second. Chandler managed to toss a scoreless third, but that would be it. He struck out two while issuing four free passes. The 23-year-old right-hander ends the day with an uninspiring 5.14 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, and a 36/31 K/BB ratio across 42 innings. He’s lined up for a start against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Friday.

Chandler reigned in the walks today, issuing just one. However, he also wound up with only three strikeouts and a 22 percent CSW. The Pirates dropped to 2-6 in his starts, in part because they have to ask for four or five innings from the pen every time he pitches. He’ll almost certainly get better, but he’s been quite the liability through eight turns. He’ll pitch at home against the Phillies next.

The Diamondbacks got to Chandler right away, putting two runs on the board in the first inning on two hits, three walks, and a sacrifice fly. He didn’t allow another hit over four more scoreless frames, but did issue three more walks. He struck out four. The 23-year-old right-hander ends the day with a 4.76 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, and a 31/26 K/BB ratio across 34 innings. He’ll need to start limiting walks if he’s to maintain some level of success and consistency in the majors. Chandler lines up for his next start against the Giants in San Francisco on Sunday.

Watching Chandler so far this season has been like pulling teeth. He’ll blow a hitter away with a 99 mph fastball at the letters, then miss with his next pitch by about two feet. It’s frustrating to see a pitcher with such good stuff be so inconsistent with their command. At least his fastball has been in the zone more – it had a 69% strike rate here – but his misses with it are so bad that hitters are rarely chasing it and his secondaries remain unpredictable. He’ll try again to right the ship in a two-start week coming up against the Diamondbacks and Giants.

Chandler also issued three free passes on the night while striking out four. After starting his day with two scoreless frames, he allowed a two-run inside-the-park homer to Evan Carter in the third inning. Things got worse in the fourth as the Rangers tacked on four more — the last three on a blast by Corey Seager. The 23-year-old righty got just five whiffs on 78 pitches on the night, posting a miserable CSW of only 21 percent. He’ll try to pick up the pieces as he carries a 4.88 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and a 21/16 K/BB ratio (24 innings) into Tuesday evening’s matchup against the Cardinals.

This is much closer to the version of Chandler we expected this season. Finally, he reigned in his electric fastball and was able to spot it at the letters. Overall, it had a 64% strike rate which was its highest mark in any of his four starts so far this season. He also threw his sweeper 23% of the time here. That doesn’t seem like much, but his last start was the first time he’d ever used it in a major league game. It seemed like a new pitch with its erratic command despite him breaking off a few nice ones too. All in all, this was an encouraging start for the electric young right-hander who’s scheduled to face the Rangers next time out.