The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park. Pirates starting pitcher Johan Oviedo earned his first major league victory since September of 2023, in his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery. Oviedo allowed a first-inning home run, but shutdown Toronto from there. He gave up just two hits over five innings, walking one and striking out six.
Three Pirate relievers pitched four scoreless innings to close the game. Dennis Santana earned his ninth save of the season with a perfect eight-pitch ninth inning.
The Pirates opened the game with back-to-back strikeouts in the first inning, but put together a pair of doubles to score twice. The only runs of the game were scored in that opening frame.
The victory gave the Pirates the series win. They are off today, then host the Colorado Rockies for a three-game series beginning Friday night.
The Pirates are calling up their top pitching prospect Friday. Bubba Chandler will join the team in time for Friday’s game with Colorado. The 22-year old right-handed starting pitcher, will make his major league debut out of the bullpen. That is how the Pirates handled rookie Braxton Ashcraft, who has now moved into the team’s rotation and will start Friday’s game. Chandler is the #7-rated prospect in baseball. He was 5-6 with a 4.05 ERA over 24 starts at Triple-A Indianapolis this season.
Chandler was a third-round pick by the Pirates in 2021. He initially had committed to play quarterback at Clemson, but the Pirates were able to lure him into professional baseball, and he spent only a month at Clemson before signing with the Pirates organization. He initially was a two-way player, but in 2024 at High-A Greensboro, he committed to only pitching.
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