PITTSBURGH — Bubba Chandler wanted to drink in a moment a lifetime in the making.
The combination of adrenaline, the remnants of his traditional pregame Red Bull coursing through his system and the buzz inside PNC Park as the 22-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander made his major league debut in the top of the sixth Friday night against Colorado wouldn’t let him.
“I blacked out in the first inning,” Chandler said. “But I just kind of heard the place go crazy.”
With any luck, not for the last time.
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Flashing (and sometimes fighting) the electric stuff that made him the top pitching prospect in baseball, Chandler made history while offering a hint of what might come during Pittsburgh’s 9-0 victory over the Rockies.
Anchored by a fastball that reached triple digits with ease and helped by some solid defense behind him, Chandler became the first pitcher to throw four scoreless innings and record a save in his debut since saves became an officially recognized statistic in 1969.
“Kind of everything I dreamed of,” Chandler said after allowing two hits and striking out three while needing 40 pitches to record 12 outs.
Even if running out of the bullpen in late August for a team likely on its way to a last-place finish isn’t exactly what Chandler envisioned his first moment in the big leagues might look like.
If he’s being honest, Chandler thought he would be up sooner, particularly after a spectacular first two months at Triple-A Indianapolis in which he was at times unhittable.
“I was mad, yeah,” Chandler said.
That anger, however, morphed into something else entirely by the time Chandler delivered his first big league pitch, a 99 mph fastball that Colorado’s Orlando Arcia fouled off over the backstop: gratitude.
“You can complain all you want, everything,” Chandler said. “In the end, I’m here in the big leagues. There’s not a lot of 22-year-old kids that get to do this.”
No, there’s not. And even fewer who can do it the way Chandler does it, by attacking the strike zone with what teammate Braxton Ashcraft — who set the table for Chandler by throwing five innings of one-hit ball — called “one of the best arms I’ve ever seen.”
Chandler wasn’t perfect. But he was close.
Arcia took Chandler’s third pitch in the majors and slammed it off the left-field wall for a double. It was the lone major mistake Chandler made.
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 by a sliding catch by center fielder 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 by getting Arcia to flail at a 1-2 changeup that dipped down and out of the zone, the only time during his appearance that Chandler made it a point to admire his work.
“I was like, ‘Dang, that felt good coming out of the hand, that was a great pitch,'” Chandler said with a laugh.
Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly sent Chandler back out for the ninth. He worked around a single by Ritter by getting three straight fly outs to end it. Chandler started walking toward the dugout when Suwinski tracked down Warming Bernabel’s liner to give the Pirates their third victory in four games.
It was only then that Chandler — who had started in 83 of his 89 minor league appearances — remembered that the game was over. It was time to stay on the field for the handshake line that only comes after you close out a win.
In between the hugs, a figurative weight lifted off the slender shoulders that sit atop his 6-foot-3 frame.
“There’s a lot of times during the offseason or during the season it’s like, ‘This sucks. Where’s the light at the end of the tunnel type of thing?'” he said. “I found it.”
The Pirates plan to use Chandler in a relief role for now as a way of creating what 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. His historic night pushed his season total to 104 innings, not that far away from the 119⅔ innings he pitched a year ago.
The reality is that whatever happens over the next five weeks will help set the table for 2026, when Pittsburgh’s rotation could include Chandler, Ashcraft, reigning NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller, among others.
The future could be exciting if the Pirates can find a way to fix the worst offense in the majors. All that matters to Chandler is that the future is finally here.
“The past 22 years, it’s just been ‘I want to be on a major league field,’ and whether it was hitting or pitching, just wanted to be in the game and show what God gave me,” he said. “And I believe I did that.”
