Bubba Chandler earns first career win as Pirates beat Cardinals, 2-1

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Aug 27, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — The Pirates might have something with this Bubba Chandler kid.

Chandler, baseball’s top pitching prospect and the No. 7 prospect in baseball, made his second career appearance on Tuesday night, facing the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. He pitched four scoreless innings. He allowed three baserunners. He struck out three. He earned his first career win, as the Pirates beat the Cardinals, 2-1.

Chandler has started his big league career with eight shutout innings, a win and a save.

His strong outing meant the Pirates didn’t need much offense for a win. The Pirates managed just two baserunners in the first five innings against St. Louis starter Sonny Gray, but scored two on Tommy Pham’s bases-loaded single in the sixth.

Chandler entered the game in the fourth inning, relieving starter Carmen Mlodzinski, and quickly put his full arsenal on display. He got up to 99.4 mph in the inning, a quick 1-2-3 frame.

His strikeouts came on a 100-mph fastball, a 93.5-mph change-up and a 99.2-mph heater. He threw 53 pitches, 33 for strikes.

Isaac Mattson pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Dennis Santana pitched a scoreless ninth, earning his 10th save of the season.

The Pirates have won six of their past seven games.

It was over when ...

… With a runner on first, Santana got catcher Pedro Pages to hit a soft grounder to second baseman Nick Gonzales. The ball spun and took a weird hop, but Gonzales grabbed it barehanded and threw to first in time to get Pages.

On the mound

Mlodzinski faced a fair amount of traffic in his three innings on the hill. He got away with a first-inning walk by inducing a double play, then he gave up the Cardinals’ lone run in the second on a two-out single, a walk and a single from Pages. After he stranded runners on the corners in the third, manager Don Kelly decided it was time to bring Chandler in.

At the plate

The Pirates managed just three hits. Third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the lone Pirate to have any success off Gray, finishing 2 for 3 with a double. Shortstop Jared Triolo walked twice but saw his five-game multi-hit streak and seven-game hitting streak come to an end.

Most valuable player

Chandler. Some thought he’d be one for the future. Chandler has shown he’s ready right now.

Up next

The Pirates and Cardinals conclude their four-game series at 2:15 p.m. Thursday. Right-hander Braxton Ashcraft (4-2, 2.70) will start for the Pirates against veteran right-hander Miles Mikolas (6-10, 5.17).