Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft combine for 12 strikeouts as Pirates shut out Athletics

The Pittsburgh Pirates had lost 12 of their past 13 games entering their penultimate home game of the season, but Bubba Chandler had the perfect remedy to stop the skid: bring the heat.

The 23-year-old rookie right-hander fired four-seam fastballs at the Athletics, topping triple digits eight times in striking out the side in the first inning to set a tone that Braxton Ashcraft continued.

Chandler and Ashcraft combined for a dozen strikeouts over eight scoreless innings, and Nick Yorke and Bryan Reynolds hit solo home runs to lead the Pirates to a 2-0 win Saturday night before 18,209 at PNC Park.

Pirates manager Don Kelly was impressed with how Chandler and Ashcraft were “forcefully attacking” the strike zone, covering eight innings while throwing a combined 72 of their 101 pitches for strikes.

“If they came out and they’re spraying it around the zone, not throwing strikes, it’s tough,” Kelly said. “The way they came out today, attacking the strike zone, I think something that stood out was the way they got ahead tonight. Being able to establish the fastball early and be in the zone with it and get ahead. That’s a big thing with this team, being able to get ahead, because they have a lot of power at the top, and a lot of contact and speed at the bottom. It makes it really tough.”

The Pirates (66-89) recorded their major league-leading 18th shutout, holding the A’s to one hit and snapping a five-game losing streak in the process. Another rookie right-hander, Mike Burrows, will start the home finale against A’s righty Mitch Spence on Sunday afternoon.

Chandler (3-1) had six strikeouts in five scoreless innings, allowing only two runners to reach base: Jacob Wilson on a double in the second, and Brett Harris, who was hit by a pitch in the third. Chandler threw 47 of his 68 pitches for strikes, drawing 15 whiffs and six called strikes. Chandler kept the A’s off balance by mixing in 18 changeups and 13 sliders.

“He established the fastball early, triple-digits, up to 101-plus,” Kelly said. “What stood out to me was his slider, and how he’s able to throw it for a strike and get swing and miss off it as well. When you mix that with the lead fastball, he was really good.”

Chandler followed catcher Henry Davis’ lead and leaned heavily on his heater, throwing 35 fastballs and topping 100 mph 10 times. The pitch generated 20 swings, six whiffs and three called strikes as Chandler effectively used off-speed pitches and working his fastball north to south to keep A’s hitters guessing.

“It’s just kind of a cat-and-mouse game as a pitcher. I think I did a good job of that,” Chandler said. “I think Hank did a good job of that of instilling in my head early that, ‘This is what we’re going to do. This is our plan and if they adjust to it, we’ll adjust, but until then just throw at where I put the glove at.’ ”

The Pirates only had five hits but hammered a pair of home runs for an early 2-0 lead.

With two outs in the second, Yorke drilled a 1-1 sweeper 393 feet to left field off Luis Morales (4-2) for his first homer of the season.

“For me, homers are miss-hits,” Yorke said. “I’m just trying to hit the ball up the middle, but to see it go over the fence was cool.”

Reynolds led off the third with a 416-foot shot to right-center for his 16th homer of the season and 138th of his career, tying Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski for 10th place in franchise history.

“He killed that ball,” Kelly said. “It was a really great swing off the bat. You could just hear the crack and knew it was gone. It was a huge run for us, getting us up two.”

Ashcraft picked up where Chandler left off, striking out two of the first three batters he faced in the sixth and then fanning the side in the seventh.

“The pressure that you put on people, staying in the zone and suffocating people with strikes,” Ashcraft said, “that’s kind of demoralizing whenever you’re in the zone, throwing competitive pitches.”

Dennis Santana retired the side in the ninth, getting Brent Rooker looking at a called third strike for the final out for his 14th save. The story of the game, however, was how Chandler and Ashcraft silenced the A’s with strikeouts.

“My goodness. Unbelievable,” Kelly said. “It was just a lot of fun to watch.”