The Pirates are trying to keep their Wild Card push alive, and the rotation is front and center as they head into a three-game set with the White Sox at Rate Field from Sept. 8-10.
Pittsburgh opened the series by lining up Bubba Chandler for Sept. 8 and Jared Jones for Sept. 10, with Sept. 9 listed as TBA. Chicago countered with Sean Burke in the opener and Davis Martin in the second game, while also listing TBA for the finale.
Chandler gets the first crack at setting the tone after a mixed outing against the Giants on Sept. 2 at PNC Park. He gave up three earned runs in five innings, and the fifth inning got away from him after what should have been a routine fly ball from Rafael Devers.
Don Kelly said the Pirates fielders got lost in twilight, the play turned into trouble, and the Giants ended up cashing in with a sacrifice fly and an RBI single to make it 3-1. Chandler also served up a first-inning homer to Devers and issued three walks, even though the overall line still qualified as a decent start.
The bigger picture with Chandler is encouraging. Since the All-Star break, the rookie has looked far better than he did before it, putting together a 3-1 record in eight starts with a 3.24 ERA across 41.2 innings. He’s struck out 36 and walked 16, held hitters to a .217 average, and posted a 1.18 WHIP.
The Pirates have also leaned on a bullpen game in the rotation for more than a month now, and that setup has paid off lately. Lake Bachar has made four starts for Pittsburgh and allowed only two earned runs over 9.2 innings, good for a 1.86 ERA. The club typically asks him for two innings or two and a third, and he’s handled both sides of the plate well, holding right-handers to a .163/.239/.341 line with a .581 OPS and left-handers to a .208/.315/.364 line with a .679 OPS.
Pittsburgh has other options behind him, too. Carmen Mlodzinski has been throwing much better out of the bullpen, and rookie Khristian Curtis logged three innings after Bachar in the Pirates’ 5-2 win over the Giants on Sept.
- Still, Bachar is the most likely to get the ball first.
Jones enters the finale coming off the kind of outing the Pirates needed from him. On Sept. 4 against the Angels, he fired six scoreless innings, matched his career high with nine strikeouts, and threw a season-high 91 pitches in a 1-0 win. He allowed only three hits and a walk, and seven of his strikeouts came with the slider.
That sharp start mattered because August had been rough for Jones. He posted a 7.40 ERA, a .318 BAA and a 1.94 WHIP during the month, a major dip after a strong July. The stuff is still there, though, and the Pirates will need it against a White Sox lineup that can drive the ball and put runs on the board quickly.
If Jones can finish the series the way he handled the Angels, Pittsburgh will have a real shot at leaving Chicago with another important win.
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