Pirates bullpen keeps making Bubba Chandler’s growing pains worse

Bubba Chandler has plenty to answer for right now. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ young starter has not been sharp enough early in games, has put himself in too many immediate jams, and has too often forced his team to play from behind before the night has even settled in.

But the Pirates’ bullpen is not exactly helping him grow through it.

Tuesday night’s 10-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs was another example of two problems colliding. Chandler was imperfect, especially early, but he still left the Pirates with a game to win. Instead, the bullpen turned a tied game into a blowout and made another Chandler start feel worse than it actually was. That's becoming a damaging pattern.

In fairness, Chandler’s final line was hardly good enough to celebrate: five innings, four earned runs, eight hits, two walks and five strikeouts. His first two innings were especially troubling, with two walks in the first and three singles in the second helping Chicago build early pressure. By the end of the second inning, Chandler had already thrown 51 pitches.

Still, Chandler did what young starters are supposed to do when they don't have their best command. He adjusted, he stabilized, and he kept the Pirates in the game. Pittsburgh was tied, 4-4, entering the seventh inning. Then, everything collapsed.

Yohan Ramirez faced four batters, and all four reached. A hit batter, a bloop double, noted Pirate killer Ian Happ’s three-run homer and another single later, the Cubs had seized control. Justin Lawrence followed and did little to stop the damage, allowing two more runs as the inning spiraled.

The Pirates have now lost seven straight games Chandler has started and are 2-9 when he pitches this season. Those numbers matter — and could very well point to a need for more development time in the minors — but they don't exist in a vacuum. Chandler’s growing pains are real, but so is the bullpen’s inability to protect him from them.

Bubba Chandler's struggles are real, but the Pirates bullpen isn't doing him any favors

The Pirates are already facing a difficult rotation decision with Jared Jones nearing a return from the injured list. Chandler’s early-inning command issues could make him the obvious candidate to shift roles, especially if Pittsburgh believes Jones is ready to reclaim a regular starting spot. But if the bullpen can't consistently cover the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, moving another young arm out of the rotation doesn't magically solve the larger problem.

Don Kelly has said there will be opportunities for relievers to step up. The Pirates badly need that to happen, because relying too heavily on Mason Montgomery and Gregory Soto is not sustainable. Neither is watching winnable games unravel because the middle relief bridge keeps collapsing.

Chandler has work to do. No one should pretend otherwise. He has to attack the zone earlier, avoid self-inflicted damage and stop letting one bad inning define his starts. But the Pirates also have to give him a better landing spot.

Right now, Chandler’s starts are becoming a weekly referendum on his readiness. Some of that is fair, and much of it is self-created. But when the bullpen turns tied games into comfortable losses, it makes every mistake by a young starter feel fatal. That's no way to develop a pitcher — and it's certainly no way to win.

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