The Pirates opened their six-game West Coast trip with a dud in the desert, being shut out to the Diamondbacks 9-0. Bubba Chandler struggled with walks again as he walked six in just five innings and allowed two runs. The bullpen lit gas on the fire and made it into a 9-0 blowout, but two runs were enough because the Pirates offense got nothing going in this one as they managed just two hits off D-Backs starter Eduardo Rodriguez. Jim and Neil recapped this loss on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti’s Bros that you can watch/listen to here:
Here’s my three takeaways from this one…
Bubba Needs to Figure Out the Walk Issue
Bubba Chandler came into this game with a 6.2 walks per 9 innings and somehow added to it as he walked six in just five innings. He made it the five innings and only allowed two runs, but once again the walks are his Achilles heal. Last season, Chandler had just four walks in 31.1 innings at the MLB level so this regression back to walking the farm is concerning and it’s been a problem in most of his starts this season. This was his fifth start of three walks or more. I’m not sure what else you can do at this point besides let him ride it out in the Majors, but it’s starting to come at the expense of the team. Bubba needs to be better and figure out the walk issue because once he does that, he’s going to be so good. Even in this game with six walks, he was at 92 pitches after five and exited the game down 2-0. His team still had a chance to win it. The offense just didn’t have it here so the two runs were all the Diamondbacks needed. But if this team is going to compete in what appears to be a very good NL Central, you’ll need winning streaks throughout the season and Chandler has to figure this out to consistently go deeper into games and help his team win every time out.
Don’t Let this Loss Linger and Become a Losing Streak
There’s no question about it—this game stunk. It was an absolute dud from the bats as they managed just two hits and were shut out while Bubba, Yohan Ramirez and Dennis Santana gave up nine runs combined to turn this one into a blowout. But it was just one game. Don’t let this performance linger for multiple games and end up losing this series or going on some lame losing streak. Paul Skenes is on the mound Wednesday night which always makes you feel good, but the bats need to flush this one and come back out the next game and be ready to get Skenes some runs.
This game reminded me of the opening game in Texas where the Pirates were shut down by Kumar Rocker in a 5-1 loss as they started a roadtrip. They came right back out next game and scored eight runs in a win. That’s what needs to happen here. Bounce back in game two and don’t let this become more than one loss.
Konnor Griffin Has Just Missed on a Bunch of Home Runs
Everyone has been talking about it—since turning 20 years old, Konnor Griffin has been raking. He’s figuring out this Major League pitching thing and did so quickly. On Tuesday night in Arizona, he had the Pirates second and last hit of the game with a 110-mph missile off the centerfield wall for one of the more impressive doubles you’ll see and of course just missed a home run by a couple feet. His double was basically the one exciting takeaway from this game. Konnor’s had a bunch of these on the season where he’s just a foot or two shy of a home run. His doubles are rockets and they’re going to start creeping over the fence soon. The home runs are coming.
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