Bubba Chandler only gave up three hits over five innings in the Pirates' 5-4 loss to the Cardinals tonight at PNC Park, but the visitors were sure to make them count.
Four walks hurt Chandler to an extent and led to his exit at 85 pitches, but none were more costly than the one to RamonUrias to lead off the third. That was soon followed up by a JJWetherholt RBI double on a 2-2 fastball up and out of the zone. It wasn't a pitch that Chandler failed to execute, it's just that Wetherholt put a good swing on it and made Chandler pay.
The execution wasn't there in the fifth after Chandler managed to get the first two outs of the inning. IvanHerrera got a fastball up in the zone and hit a double to put a runner in scoring position before AlecBurleson sent a 1-1 slider down the middle into the seats in left-center field for a two-run homer.
"You make good and bad pitches every game. You get punished for them, sometimes you don’t," said Chandler, who allowed three runs and struck out six batters tonight. "They’ve done a pretty good job this series of crushing mistakes. That double to Wetherholt wasn’t a mistake. That was a good pitch, good piece of hitting. Potential for a really good outing turned into just a mediocre one with one pitch. That one pitch was a poorly thrown baseball. Wish I could have that pitch back. But didn’t do as good as I could out there tonight. Long year. We’re learning. Baseball’s tough."
THE ASYLUM
Chandler's walks, lack of execution proves costly
Bubba Chandler only gave up three hits over five innings in the Pirates' 5-4 loss to the Cardinals tonight at PNC Park, but the visitors were sure to make them count.
Four walks hurt Chandler to an extent and led to his exit at 85 pitches, but none were more costly than the one to Ramon Urias to lead off the third. That was soon followed up by a JJ Wetherholt RBI double on a 2-2 fastball up and out of the zone. It wasn't a pitch that Chandler failed to execute, it's just that Wetherholt put a good swing on it and made Chandler pay.
The execution wasn't there in the fifth after Chandler managed to get the first two outs of the inning. Ivan Herrera got a fastball up in the zone and hit a double to put a runner in scoring position before Alec Burleson sent a 1-1 slider down the middle into the seats in left-center field for a two-run homer.
"You make good and bad pitches every game. You get punished for them, sometimes you don’t," said Chandler, who allowed three runs and struck out six batters tonight. "They’ve done a pretty good job this series of crushing mistakes. That double to Wetherholt wasn’t a mistake. That was a good pitch, good piece of hitting. Potential for a really good outing turned into just a mediocre one with one pitch. That one pitch was a poorly thrown baseball. Wish I could have that pitch back. But didn’t do as good as I could out there tonight. Long year. We’re learning. Baseball’s tough."
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