Pirates Insider Podcast, Episode 32 (6/30 at Phillies)

The Pirates' struggles against left-handed pitching continued, this time against Cristopher Sanchez. What did he do to give them problems? Bubba Chandler was solid through six innings, though he didn't like the way his outing ended. Still, what did Chandler think about his work in June? Finally, Konnor Griffin and Esmerlyn Valdez have a special relationship. Jason Mackey breaks down the game and that story here.

Transcript

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Good morning, Pirates fans. This is the Pirates Insider Podcast. I am your host, Jason Mackey, talking to you from my hotel room in Philadelphia. It was an ugly one. It was a quiet clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park. The Pirates suffering an 8-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, and it was a familiar story for the Pirates this season. Christopher Sanchez was on the mound, and you know that name well. He threw a complete game shutout the last time he faced the Pirates this season, and it wasn't a complete game shutout, but it was still a problem. And it furthered a season-long trend for the Pirates against left-handed pitching against left-handed starters. Christopher Sanchez was very, very good. Seven innings didn't allow a run, three hits, two walks, nine strikeouts, and the Pirates had a tough time. What I wrote about at Inside the Pirates was Don Kelly sort of changing his lineup. He went with a different look. I don't blame him. If you look at this four-game series, you're going to give some guys some days off. I know fans probably don't love that. They want everybody to play every game, which I get. But you know, Connor Griffin as Marilyn Valdez, Brian Reynolds, then Marcelo Zuna in there, Nick Gonzalez, Zendi Rodriguez, Jared Triolo, Billy Cook, Henry Davis. The two names you don't see, of course, Brandon Lau and Ryan O'Hearn. Against left-handed pitching, specifically Sanchez, the Pirates have not been good this season. That stat is included in the story. Against right-handed pitching, the Pirates have a 784 OPS. That's second in Major League Baseball. Against lefties, they're 22nd with a 677 OPS. Now, some of that might be personnel based, but still, there's a whole lot more that can be done. I asked Don Kelly what the key was going to be facing Sanchez, and he said the Pirates staying in their approach, looking to go up the middle, looking to go the other way. And unfortunately for the Pirates, neither of those things happened. They got out of their approach. They didn't make him bring his sinker up. They chased. I don't know if they were pulling, but they weren't hitting much. It wasn't going the other way. Got out of their approach. And it was just, it was not ideal at all. That's something Don Kelly talked about. Billy Cook, we talked to him. He offered some of the same insight. Was talking about Sanchez is sinker, and Cook said he located most of them down and away, just kind of got soft contact, got some chase when guys got on. He executed his pitches. He definitely looked good. Overall, we could have maybe had him throw it in the zone a little bit more. I think we gave him more chase than we would have liked. Pretty much agree with all of that. Sanchez was very, very good. He's been very, very good this season. He'll be an all-star. The Pirates swung and missed 23 times against the Phillies lefty. His ERA is now 2.00. And this is how good he's been coming into the game. He was first in Major League Baseball and wins above replacement, according to baseball reference, with 5.2. He was tied for first in quality starts at 12. He now has 13. He was third in fifth and fourth in ERA. So any way you want to slice it, he's been one of the elite pitchers of the National League. And the Pirates, they were in it for a little while. I don't want to say it was a blowout. The score was probably not that indicative of things, at least through six innings. Through six innings, it was a 2-0 game. And that's where we'll kind of pick up. I want to talk a little bit about Bubba Chandler on this episode. I also want to preview a story I have posting tomorrow morning on Connor Griffin and as Marilyn Valdez. But Bubba Chandler in this one was actually pretty good, I thought. He went six and a third. He gave up five earned runs. I'll detail those a little bit. Seven hits, two walks, six strikeouts. This finishes a month of June for Bubba that was really a step in the right direction, I feel like. He didn't give up more than two earned runs in any of his previous, I believe it was four or five starts since that June 7th start in Atlanta. He's walked fewer guys, he's commanded his breaking balls for the most part. He's been more emotionally stable, composed is probably a better word or a better way of saying it, but I've liked his presence on the mound. I liked it again in this one. Goes 1-2-3 in the first. The second he encountered a little bit of trouble. Alec Bohm gets a single. JT Romuto hits him with the pitch. And then eventually Justin Crawford sticks his bat out and gets a one-two fastball off the plate, lines at 86.9 miles per hour, a real screamer, basically slaps an excuse me single into left field for two runs. Wasn't a bad pitch by Chandler, wasn't a mistake. He sort of surmised it was four balls off the plate. And I wouldn't disagree with him. And Chandler went right back to work. Next inning, strikeout, grounder to second, strikeout, worked around a walk in the fourth, worked around a leadoff double in the fifth, uh, in the sixth, gave up a single, but struck out JT Romuto to get through it, had a quality start going through six innings. And the outing kind of got ugly for him in the seventh. And that's where the game got away from the Pirates. Uh leadoff walk and then a sacrifice. Uh Trey Turner with a double, Kyle Schwarber with a single, and that's when he was pulled. Um Isaac Madsen comes in and gives up a couple of Chandler's runs. At that point, uh, you got a 5-0 lead with Christopher Sanchez on the mound. That's basically over. Um Brandon Boudoir came in. It did not go well for Boudoir. I'll be interested to see what comes out of Boudoir. He was uh checked on at one point. Um Donnie Kelly said it was a like a chest or a peck thing, uh, but he ends up working two-thirds of it in and gives up three-earned runs. Boudois is not pitched at all. Um, and I wonder how much of that has to do with health. Uh, regardless, it looks like this could probably be a time to cycle or a lever, get somebody who's healthy, who's fresh, get them up here and give Badois either an IL stint or or back in the minors. I wouldn't be surprised to see somebody new in that clubhouse tomorrow. Don't know who it'll be, but they've got some options at AAA. I don't think Jose Rquiti would be ready. Maybe a Mike Clevinger, he'd have to be added to the 40, not sure. Um, Wilbur Dotel still don't have any information on him if he's ready to come back. Um, but anyway, uh Tyler Callahan comes in and gets one run. And things just got really messy after that. Phillies get three runs in the eighth inning, and that was all she wrote. So my takeaways from this one, Bubba Chandler, good, tired out a little bit, winds up throwing 97 pitches, 65 strikes. But I think overall, you can look at his June and say it was pretty positive. Um, I think, you know, when when they made the decision to put Carmen Majinski in the bullpen and keep Jared Jones and all of that sort of fuss about, you know, what are you doing with Bubba Chandler? We can see why the Pirates have done that. Prior to tonight, over his previous four starts, that dates back again to June 7th. Bubba has gone 22 and a third innings. He's given up seven earned runs in there, eight walks, eighteen strikeouts. That's what you want to see out of somebody like Bubba Chandler. So that was encouraging for me. On the flip side, have to figure out the left-handed pitching. Marcelo Zuna had four at bats. This theoretically should be his pocket to produce. Looks pretty lost at the plate, struck out three times, um, just didn't get much going at all offensively. As Marilyn Valdez had two hits, Nick Gonzalez had a single, Andy Rodriguez had a single, and Billy Cook had a double. But um, if the Pirates are going to compete and make something of this thing, they're going to face left-handed starters, and they're going to have to produce. They're going to have to find a way to beat guys. I know Christopher Sanchez is good, but he's not that good. They're going to have to find a way to even out those splits a little bit and get something going. All right, let me finish up just by talking about my Valdez and Griffin story. Uh, this started on Monday, and I've seen this before. I've seen this dating back to spring training, how close these two are, but it sort of reminded me the hitters meeting breaks up, and before every series, there's a hitters meeting, um, and you'll see, you know, we'll be in the clubhouse and like a whole mass of players will walk in. So they all walk in, and I see Connor Griffin and as Marilyn Valdez chatting, laughing. One's got his arm around another, and they're just joking around. And um, they're together a lot, they talk a lot. Um, they're very close, and and I decided to talk to both of them about why that is and what they like about one another, and what they would steal from each other if they could, and you know, why do you respect this guy? And so it led to two very good conversations that I blended into a story and sort of a bigger picture takeaway you can look at with the Pirates is they're actually getting production from young players. And Griffin, it's not surprising, we expected that based on his contract extension and all of that. But you know, as Marilyn Valdez has been such a uh a dose of positivity, comes into this game hitting 289, six homers, twelve RBIs. Um he actually did something rare when he hit two singles tonight. Ten of his first 13 hits have been for extra paces. There's just a ton of power in there, and that's something I talked about with both of them. And I asked Connor, I said, when you look at Esmerlin, like what do you like so much about him? And it had to be the power. That's Connor said something like, Um, you know, I'd like to think that I have a lot of power, but man, how much he does it and how consistently it's impressive. And then Valdez looks at Connor Griffin and it's the way he carries himself and always positive and warm and signing stuff for kids and being a great teammate. And you know, found out Valdez has been teaching Connor Griffin some Spanish, and Griffin really likes that. And it's just, you know, a very good, positive, healthy relationship. But from a number standpoint, from a roster building standpoint, from a winning standpoint, those two have obviously been very good young players, and they've had a few guys like that. I asked Don Kelly about the impact of young guys and what it does for a clubhouse, and he started talking about Jake Mangum and what he's brought, and you know, even Andy Rodriguez, a level of energy there. Uh and, you know, not that Mangum is young, but he's a he's an energy guy, and the Pirates have that for the first time in a little while. Tyler Callahan has been very good in that regard. He's really, you know, when they've needed a bat, when they've needed somebody to sort of come out of nowhere, the pirates are actually getting that. And that is that has been a change this year from previous years where they can go down to the miners, they can grab somebody, they've been productive. And as Marilyn Valdez, I was glad he was hitting second, I thought it was appropriate, um, has been he's just been a revelation. You know, hit the ball, what, 461 feet? But the best thing about this kid might honestly be his walks. He's not he's not a sellout for power, huge swing and miss guy. He's got very good plate discipline, a very good understanding of the strike zone, and I like his at-bats. I liked his at-bats tonight. Um, obviously a tough night at the dish for the pirates, but um the power is pretty obvious. But if you watch closer, there's a lot of thinking going on there, and a very mature player, and the pirates, um, they have a few of these guys, and that's something Valdez cited. Some other guys coming along, you know, Edward Florentino, Tamar Johnson, Wyatt Sanford, Murph Gray, you know, talking just position players, of course. If it's everybody, Seth Hernandez is in that conversation. But um, they're in a pretty good situation right now with position players coming up here. As Marilyn Valdez told me, he doesn't think he's the last, but there's a lot others coming. This has been the Pirates Insider Podcast. Thanks so much for listening. Hopefully, tomorrow's game is better. Paul Skeen's on the mound opposite Zach Wheeler. Make sure you download these and listen every day, Monday through Friday, 10 to 15 minutes of Pirates Talk right after games. I'm Jason Mackey. This is the Pirates Insider Podcast. Talk to you tomorrow.