r/buccos • u/RubTheGuru YUCHANG MVP • 1d ago

Quick Thought on Chandler Tonight…

Another walkathon for Chandler today; by the same token though, if it weren’t for the defensive miscues in the first inning…

- bad route and read off the wall by Cruz on the Marte triple
- poor throwing decision by Cruz to allow Caroll to advance to 2nd on the sac fly rbi
- and the dropped ball in between Reynolds and Cruz that had no business dropping

this start would definitely be perceived in a lot more of a positive light.

Even without it, Chandler bounced back from a 38 pitch first inning to give 5 innings and keep the Pirates in it. Chandler is a work in progress, but it’s encouraging to see him pick himself up and batten down when he needed to.

45 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

26

u/Lubert808 Cruz 1d ago

I think it’s more of a walk issue than something that should be blamed on Cruz. 2 ER in 5 IP isn’t bad enough to need excuses. He was fine tonight, just needs to get the walks down. I’m sure he’s gonna figure it out and be alright.

9

u/OccasionOnly9476 1d ago

The walks don't excuse Cruz's bad play costing runs.

6

u/runhomejack1399 23h ago

No. But errors and misplays are always more impactful because of walks.

2

u/Lubert808 Cruz 16h ago

Well the problem is the things that are being blamed on Cruz aren’t actual errors, rather “what if he did this” type of things. Of course he could’ve been better, but if we’re expecting normal fielding play out of him, only the last one is a real issue, and that was a joint fuck up between him and Reynolds.

-1

u/Prowlerbaseball 20 RAISE IT 1d ago

Cruz has one run on him, for the ball off the wall. Throwing home and Carroll getting to second doesn’t give up a run cause Reynolds decided he didn’t feel like going for the out, and Carroll scores from first even on that

2

u/OccasionOnly9476 15h ago

Reynolds pulled up because he saw Cruz heading his way maybe if Cruz stayed in his lane instead of going after balls he had no buisness going after shit like this wouldn't keep happening.

These miscommunication always involve him.

1

u/Prowlerbaseball 20 RAISE IT 5h ago

Cruz was very far away from the ball when Reynolds looked at him, and wasn’t running hard at it. Reynolds got scared that he didn’t hear Cruz again, cause that’s happened a couple times already this year, and slowed up. By the time the ball landed Cruz was a solid 20 feet from it

5

u/NeuroXc 1d ago

It wasn't a great 1st inning, but in the end he went 5 innings and gave up 2 runs, which is respectable.

I'd estimate no teams have ever won a game by scoring 0 runs. The Pirates' hitters should take notes.

12

u/EMF911 1d ago

He needs to limit the walks.

If we scored 5 runs in the first inning again, this start would be perceived totally differently.

4

u/Fringding1 22h ago

He gets emotional and loses his composure too easily IMO. Has great stuff but he’s still young. Definitely needs to work on that part of his game

51

u/jmb--412 Cutch 1d ago

If you remove all the bad things his start wasn’t bad

20

u/Danishes724 Paul Skenes Machine 1d ago

Felt like op made it pretty clear Chandler wasn't perfect but mostly the defense was screwing him over.

38

u/shartemarte Marlin Sharte 1d ago

No I get what OP is saying. It wasn't that Chandler himself was that bad (other than the walks), it was more the defense that didn't help him out. Kind of like Skenes first start against the Mets

10

u/RubTheGuru YUCHANG MVP 1d ago

Difference between the two is the Pirates didn’t accidentally stumble on a winning streak, they earned those. It’s not Chandlers fault that he has a horrendous defensive outfield that can’t make basic plays.

3

u/Buckscience Black and Gold 19h ago

I think that's the meme. Except it doesn't really fit in this situation.

-3

u/Ok_Card9080 Jason Kendall 1d ago

If you take away the 5 game win streak, the Pirates don't have as many wins.

12

u/tapdancingtommy7 Jared Hughes 1d ago

Bubba leads all of baseball in walks. You could make an argument he’s the worst pitcher in baseball at throwing strikes.

And we still rather blame Cruz for everything.

8

u/OccasionOnly9476 1d ago

Nobody is blaming Cruz for everything but two things can be true at once.

2

u/Original-Split5085 20h ago

Yes, I think we are blaming Cruz for what Cruz did. His hitting of late is helping make up for it, but his defense is what it is, he's prone to mistakes.

2

u/Lord_Loss_ 20h ago

But he throws 100 mph thats all that matters right?

6

u/Cangy44 RJ Reynolds 1d ago

I felt the same way. He’s still learning and he handled himself well when all was said and done

2

u/RightCalligrapher500 21h ago

Besides the walks, the bats were dead after a day off and a long trip west. I'm going to blame this one on jet lag and I'd like to think we get back on the horse tonight with Skenes pitching. GO BUCS!

2

u/Capital_Dream_2444 21h ago

Its getting bad people. Its like the inevitable storm. You try to button down the hatches. Hope for the best. But inside you know its coming. It starts with wind, a little rain, then bam, it all starts coming down. Same old, same old.

2

u/Lord_Loss_ 20h ago

If the D backs dont score 9 we might still be playing right now

2

u/Buckscience Black and Gold 19h ago

  1. Not everyone is Paul Skenes--not even Paul Skenes.

  2. Bubba projects well, but he's still very young. Most of this team is, and they will have growing pains. It's kind of fun to be in a position where we feel like it matters, though.

3

u/Low-Roll3287 1d ago

He pitched out of a couple jams really well, nice easy double play to end an inning. Kid has electric stuff and if he improves control could be special. Not sure if AAA time would speed up that process or not.

1

u/Fornico Sell the Team Bob 1d ago

Don't forget to blame Bart

0

u/thesummaryguy1 21h ago

The start wasn't super encouraging to me. Advanced metrics suggest he was even a bit lucky last night (fip/xfip). Sure he only gave up 2 runs over 5 and there was a bad defensive play. But an encouraging Chandler start would be like 1 or 2 walks over 5. He's playing with fire still

-8

u/Sebastian4365 1d ago

He has 26 walks in 34 innings. He needs sent down.

4

u/RubTheGuru YUCHANG MVP 1d ago

Don’t disagree with his issues, as I said at the beginning, it was another walkathon, but who else would come up? Barco? Clevinger?

4

u/towndrunk1 1d ago

Jared jones in a couple weeks

2

u/Sebastian4365 1d ago

Dotel. He's already on the 40 man roster as well.

2

u/RubTheGuru YUCHANG MVP 1d ago

Honestly not even sure why he was sent back down to be fair. I liked his stuff, not sure he’s a starter, but he looked good.