It was appropriate that the Pittsburgh Pirates issued the No. 57 jersey to Bubba Chandler, as the major-league debut of baseball’s top pitching prospect was all about anticipation.
The 22-year-old right-hander didn’t disappoint, pitching out of the bullpen in the sixth inning and coming tantalizingly close to triple digits on his first strikeout before topping it on his second punchout.
The Pirates pounded 10 of their 14 hits for extra bases, including three home runs, and Braxton Ashcraft and Chandler combined for a shutout in a 9-0 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night before 22,826 at PNC Park.
Ashcraft held the Rockies to one hit and one walk while striking out six on 65 pitches in five scoreless innings before being relieved in the sixth.
This night belonged to Chandler, who had three strikeouts and allowed two hits in four innings to become the first Pirate and fourth major-leaguer to earn a four-inning save in his MLB debut. The 6-foot-3, 218-pounder threw strikes on 29 of 40 pitches and had fans chanting “Bubba” as he conducted an on-field postgame interview.
It was a performance worthy of the night’s festivities. Before the first pitch, the Pirates honored 2025 Hall of Fame inductees KiKi Cuyler, Vernon Law and Al Oliver.
The Pirates had scored eight runs in two-thirds of an inning off Antonio Senzatela in the 17-16 loss on Aug. 1 at Coors Field. This time, the Rockies right-hander allowed five runs on eight hits and three walks with four strikeouts over four innings.
Senzatela was tagged for two runs in the first frame when Nick Gonzales singled to left and Tommy Pham drew a two-out walk, and both scored on Andrew McCutchen’s double to left. Jack Suwinski walked, and Jared Triolo singled to load the bases, but Henry Davis went down swinging to end the inning.
In the second, Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a leadoff double down the right-field line and scored on a double to left by Spencer Horwitz for a 3-0 lead. Pham drew another two-out walk, and McCutchen followed with another two-run double to increase the lead to 5-0.
Orlando Arcia fouled off Chandler’s first pitch, a 98.9 mph fastball, before taking a 97.9 mph fastball for a ball. Arcia drilled the third pitch, a 98.6 mph four-seamer, off the left-field wall for a leadoff double.
Chandler started mixing his pitches, using his curveball and slider to set up Ryan Ritter to go down looking at a 99.9 mph fastball on the outside corner. After Tyler Freeman grounded out to second to advance Arcia to third, Chandler turned up the heat. He sandwiched a pair of 99 mph fastballs around a 90.9 mph slider before blowing a 100.4 mph fastball past Mickey Moniak, who swung at the pitch above the strike zone.
The Pirates padded their lead in the bottom of the sixth, which started with Horwitz hammering his sixth home run. Bryan Reynolds drilled a double off the right-center wall, and Pham followed by connecting on a 1-0 fastball 435 feet to left field for a two-run homer and 8-0 lead.
Chandler needed only seven pitches (five for strikes) to retire the side in the seventh. He began the eighth by hitting Braxton Fulford with a fastball but got Yanquiel Fernandez to ground into a 6-3 double play and fooled Arcia with a changeup for his third strikeout.
Alexander Canario, who replaced Reynolds, sent lefty Lucas Gilbreath’s first-pitch fastball 426 feet into the right-center seats for his fourth home run to increase the Pirates’ lead to 9-0 in the eighth.
In the ninth, Chandler gave up a leadoff single to Ritter and a fly ball to the warning track in left to Freeman before getting Moniak to fly out to left and Warming Bernabel to center on his final pitch, which was clocked on the radar gun at 100 mph.