BRADENTON, Fla. — Bubba Chandler was feeling his four-seam fastball, so he turned to steal a glance at the scoreboard behind him after his third pitch of his first start of spring training.
The radar gun clocked it at 100.6 mph.
Short on sleep and over-caffeinated on coffee, the 23-year-old right-hander decided to dial it back a bit against the New York Yankees. His next two heaters were two ticks slower, then he got the left-handed Jasson Dominguez swinging at a slider low and away for a strikeout.
Chandler’s second inning was scattershot, as his lack of fastball command led to a lousy line: He didn’t allow a hit but was charged with four earned runs on four walks, including one with the bases loaded, in throwing only 14 of his 35 pitches for strikes over 12⁄3 innings. The result was a 6-2 loss Monday afternoon before 5,692 on a windy, 55-degree day in a Grapefruit League game at LECOM Park.
“Unfortunately, didn’t end the way I wanted to and I walked people,” Chandler said. “I was efficient in the way I wanted to be, not how you should be. But everything I was throwing today that I wanted to execute, I did. I hate walks. One walk is fine. You can’t let one turn to two, two turn to three, and definitely not in a row, either.”
After Chandler sandwiched a pair of pop fouls for outs around the strikeout in the first inning, the Pirates spotted him a one-run lead in the bottom of the frame. Oneil Cruz hit a leadoff single to center field, stole second base, advanced to third on Ryan O’Hearn’s flyout to right and scored on a single to right by designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, who was making his Pirates debut after signing a $12 million deal with a mutual option.
As much as Chandler was mad about his performance because he believes he could have pitched at a higher level, he was measured in his response. For one, he’s healthy. He was excited to pitch in front of a crowd. He focused on what he accomplished, not what he didn’t. Upon reflection, however, Chandler realized he shouldn’t have taken his foot off the gas after touching triple digits.
“I think I lost a little bit of that mentality after that,” Chandler said. “Pumped the brakes a little bit. I shouldn’t have done it. If you feel good, throw it.”
What Chandler was most upset about was blowing the lead he was given and reaching his pitch limit before finishing his second inning.
Chandler started the second by walking Paul DeJong and Spencer Jones, the latter on four pitches. After getting Max Schuemann to fly out to center and striking out Seth Brown on a 2-2 changeup, Chandler ran into command issues again. Zach Short drew a walk on a 3-1 slider to load the bases, and Payton Henry drew another four-pitch walk — all fastballs — to score DeJong and tie the score at 1-1.
Despite the walks, Pirates catcher Joey Bart was impressed with the way Chandler mixed in his offspeed and breaking pitches.
“I thought he was great,” Bart said. “His fastball command got away from him a little bit there, but he punched a lefty out on a really good changeup, and the slider was good. When he got behind in counts, he was dumping the slider in there. That’s big in this game. You can’t get predictable in hitter’s counts. If he can throw wrinkles in like that, when his fastball is in the zone it’s really hard to hit.”
The Pirates replaced Chandler with minor leaguer Tyrone Yulie, who gave up a two-run single to Ben Rice and an RBI double to Dominguez as the Yankees increased their lead to 4-1.
“He threw some really good breaking balls and changeups — he got the punchout on the one changeup — but the control got away from him,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “I’m happy with him coming out of it healthy and the way the ball was coming out of his hand. The first start in spring training, it looked like he got a little amped up and the adrenaline was going, but he’ll make the adjustment.”
Bart believes that Chandler was still getting comfortable pitching in front of fans for the first time but that there were good takeaways.
“The first time out there, you’ve got the jitters, and for most guys it either goes well or it doesn’t. Once you get back out there for the second (inning), it can almost speed up on you more because you can either ride off the success of the first one or vice versa,” Bart said. “All in all, he’s got elite stuff. When he’s in the zone, he’s really good. He just got away from himself a tad, but that’s fine.”
Note: Carmen Mlodzinski is expected to start for the Pirates against Ranger Suarez and the Boston Red Sox at 1:05 p.m. Tuesday in Fort Myers. The game will be televised on SportsNet Pittsburgh.
