PITTSBURGH (AP) — Bubba Chandler didn’t disappoint major league debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates
The hard-throwing 22-year-old right-hander — considered the top pitching prospect in baseball — threw four scoreless innings in relief and picked up the save in a 9-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.
Chandler, officially called up from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier in the day, entered in the top of the sixth against Colorado after five innings of one-hit ball by Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft.
Chandler’s first pitch in the majors was a 99 mph fastball that Orlando Arcia fouled off. Arcia took a 97 mph heater for a ball, then laced a 98 mph four-seamer off the left-field wall for a double.
It was the lone mistake Chandler would make. He fanned Ryan Ritter on a 100 mph fastball that painted the outside corner, induced Tyler Freeman to ground out to second, and then struck out Mickey Moniak swinging on another triple-digit fastball.
Chandler needed just seven pitches to retire the Rockies in order in the seventh, helped a bit by a sliding catch by centerfielder Jack Suwinski. Colorado’s Braxton Fulford led off the eighth by getting hit by a pitch but Chandler induced Yanquiel Fernandez to hit into a double play and exacted a bit of revenge on Arcia by striking him out on a changeup well out of the zone.
Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly sent Chandler back out for the ninth. He worked around a single by Arcia to become just the fourth pitcher to record a four-inning save in his major-league debut since the save became an official statistic.
The Pirates plan to use Chandler in a relief role for now as a way of creating what manager Don Kelly called an “on ramp” to the majors, a strategy the club used earlier this season after calling up Ashcraft.
Chandler will have an opportunity to start at some point, though the club is keeping a careful eye on his workload. He threw 100 innings in the minors this season, not that far away from the 119 2/3 innings he pitched last year while splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A.
A third-round pick in the 2021 draft, Chandler was a two-way player earlier in his minor league career before moving to pitching full-time in 2023.
Chandler joins a pitching staff led by 23-year-old reigning NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young contender Paul Skenes.
While Skenes’ debut in May 2024 was treated as a major event in Pittsburgh, Chandler made a decidedly quieter entrance. He eschewed any pregame interviews and was running in the outfield at PNC Park more than five hours before the first pitch.
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