Bubba Chandler‘s fantastic outing was wasted by a punchless offense, questionable decision making and a bad call to end the game as the Bucs drop game two 2-0 to lose the series to the Yankees. The Pirates had just three hits against Yankees starter Max Fried and four relievers as they fired a shutout. Chandler went 6.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and was pulled at 84 pitches in the 7th inning with no one on base. Brandon Eisert came in and gave up two runs for the difference in the game. DiNardo and Tyler sounded off about Don Kelly‘s questionable decision on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti Bros. You watch or listen here:

Here’s my takeaways from the game two and series loss:

Bubba Is Growing Up in Front of Our Eyes

The Pirates got some awesome starting pitching in Wednesday’s doubleheader. First, Mitch Keller bounced back and fired five shutout innings in game one and then Bubba came out in game 2 and SHOVED. Chandler finished with 6.1 scoreless innings with just two hits, one walk and struck out five Yankees. He could have finished the 7th as well, but for some reason Kelly pulled him at 84 pitches (more on that below). Bubba never really labored in this game, never ran into any trouble and he was cruising at 84 pitches. He’s had some tough outings as of late, but he bounced back and then some in game two against a good lineup in a tough environment. Bubba was great. He had a 44% whiff rate on his 4-seam fastball and he threw that 39 times. He was so good in this one that he was one strike away from an Immaculate Inning! And he knew it too when his ninth pitch was a low ball to Cody Bellinger. Bellinger doubled and he came right back and induced Jazz Chisholm to ground out. He was solid, he was striking dudes out and he was efficient. He was everything you want your starting pitcher to be in a road battle at Yankee Stadium. I thought Bubba deserved better in this one…from the offense and his manager. It’s a shame he didn’t get a chance to finish it.

Awful Decision by Kelly Cost Pirates

Speaking of getting a chance to finish it, what in the world was Don Kelly thinking when he pulled Bubba at 84 pitches, with nobody on base and one out in the 7th inning. “Oh there were two lefties coming up in Bellinger and Jazz…WHO CARES?! I would maybe care about splits if my bullpen was competent and we had a couple lefties who were any good. Evan Sisk is on the IL. He’s about the only one I would trust to play lefty specialist in this pen. I would just roll with my starting pitcher who hasn’t labored all game and has been money against this lineup and cruising at just 84 pitches. Instead, Kelly pulls Chandler from the game and goes to…Brandon Eisert! Ben Cherington’s big bullpen pickup. His only bullpen pickup to date. Oh wait, no there was also Hunter Stratton who was DFA’d from Atlanta, showed up on the Pirates for a hot minute, gave up runs and was sent back to Triple-A. It’s not good enough. Eisert comes in and goes walk, flyout, double, single and it’s 2-0.

Did the offense scored in this game? No, they didn’t. But when you’re in a 0-0 game and one run can be the difference, every decision is crucial and once again Don Kelly over managed a bit and the Bucs lost the game. You just don’t have the bullpen to try and play matchups…just stay with what’s working and Bubba should have finished that inning. Two things are true here: It was an awful decision by Kelly to pull Bubba at 84 pitches and no one on base. And second, Ben Cherington needs to get off his ass and make a trade for some legit, proven, quality, MLB relief arms and do it NOW.

Silver Lining: The Bucs Were in Every Game This Series

I said on Bucco Brew Monday morning that I was looking forward to this series and that I believed the Pirates would be in every game and they were. That’s the silver lining to me. They battled back from a 4-0 deficit in the first game Monday, took a 5-4 lead and lost 8-5. In game one of the doubleheader, they beat faced former Bucco Gerrit Cole, had the lead on him, blew it and pulled it out in 10 innings. And then in game two, it was 0-0 in the 7th inning before Eisert gave up two runs in the 2-0 loss. They were in every game and easily could have taken this series at Yankee Stadium. That’s the sign of a talented team, but once again I feel like I keep saying things like “could have easily taken the series,” or “they should have swept this team” like in the Guardians series. At some point, they need to start taking advantage and winning those games. They continue to leave wins on the table. But this is a positive takeaway so they sit at 53-50, right in the NL wildcard hunt and come home to face the Cubs who are five games ahead of them and the Diamondbacks who are in the wildcard logjam as well. Two big series against two teams ahead of you. They survived this roadtrip out of the break, now win these upcoming series and get back on track during this tough stretch of games.