The Pirates have finally snapped their five-game win streak with their loss to the San Diego Padres tonight at PNC Park. Despite peppering the basepaths with runners against journeyman German Marquez, they fail to score against him as he outduels Bubba Chandler. The Pirates were undone by a combination of some bad breaks and some bad defense, and hope to right the ship tomorrow with Paul Skenes taking the mound. Here are our three takeaways from tonight’s defeat that moves Pittsburgh to 6-4 on the season.
Maybe the Padres Just Own Us
In the previous few years, maybe as revenge for trading them Rich Hill, the Padres have had the Pirates’ number and tonight was no exception. Following tonight’s shut out loss, the Pirates are now 3-13 against the Padres over their last 15 meetings, including nine straight losses to the Friars. The Padres have outscored the Pirates a whopping 43-16 in their last 10 games played against each other as well. The Padres have been one of the few teams that have been able to destroy the Pirates generally good pitching staff, very much like the Brewers. This has been a consistent trend since the disastrous 2024 trade deadline, where the Pirates completely collapsed against the Padres and Astros and limping to a sub 80 win season after being buyers. It would be a great turnaround from recent events if the team is able to rally over the next two days and steal the series before heading out to Chicago.
Baseball is a Cruel Sport
After watching the game it did not feel like a game where the Pirates should’ve been shut out and beaten soundly. They managed to get seven baserunners off Marquez alone and were deeply unlucky to not get at least one of those guys home. The Pirates had no fewer than three balls hit extremely well into the corner or to the Clemente Wall and yet none of them were able to advance past first base on plays that normally end in doubles. Part of this is Fernando Tatis Jr’s incredible arm, part of this is PNC Park’s weird dimensions but for it to happen three times is just nasty luck. Despite being in the basement of the league in terms of hitting the ball hard and barreling the baseball, the Pirates made very good contact tonight and simply was not rewarded for it. There was also that debacle where O’Hearn was told to stop at third despite being able to score easily and a miscommunication with Nick Gonzales forced him home (he was nearly safe despite this!). Overall, if the Pirates hit and walk like they did tonight they will continue to score runs despite being blanked tonight.
I Can Live With Bubba’s Walks
Us Pirates fans are extremely spoiled with rookie pitchers coming up and being dominant right off the bat. Bubba Chandler, being an MLB Pipeline top 10 prospect in baseball was also expected to be at an elite level as soon as he hit the Majors. This is why he has felt disappointing despite maintaining an ERA of 3.12 in his first two starts of the year. Even Bubba himself told the media tonight that he felt like his start was garbage. While he does lead the league with 10 walks issued this season, I do feel like he has been impressive and great part of the rotation so far. If Bryan Reynolds doesn’t trip over himself in left field, there is a good chance Bubba leaves this game with only one run surrendered and the Pirates within close striking distance after five innings. Bubba has a lot of growing to do with his pitch mix and control and yet despite all these shortcomings he is providing dominant innings where very few runs are being surrendered. As a 23-year-old rookie with some of the best stuff in baseball that is a foundation to be built upon. If this is Bubba Chandler at his worst, we are going to have yet another special pitcher on our hands.
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