PITTSBURGH – After the first meeting between Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes and Los Angeles Dodgers two-way sensation last season, the former described the matchup as “big on big.”

Though Skenes wasn’t on the mound for the Pirates’ first meeting with the Dodgers at PNC Park on Tuesday night, there was another similar matchup between the three-time MVP and another promising young pitcher donning the black and gold. 

Top pitching prospect Bubba Chandler took the mound in the third inning after Carmen Mlodzinski covered the first two. After retiring Dodgers nine-hitter Miguel Rojas on a groundout, in stepped Ohtani into the left-handed batter’s box. 

The at-bat began with two consecutive balls, putting Chandler behind in the count 2-0. The rookie right-hander then blew a 99 mph fastball at the top of the zone past Ohtani. After missing away with a changeup, Chandler missed his spot with a fastball in the zone and the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter made him pay.

“Oh no, oh no,” Chandler said when asked if he hit his spot. “Trying to go up with him and I just threw it right where he wanted it and he made me regret it.”

The end result was a rocket home run that registered an exit velocity of a whopping 120 mph. It was the 271st home run of Ohtani’s historic career, and the hardest he’s ever hit one in his eight seasons in the big-leagues. 

“I was kind of wowed by it,” Chandler explained. “I looked up at the board to see how hard it was hit. Came in here and the strength coach was just saying, ‘wow…’ and I was kinda like, ‘dang it’s crazy that you can hit a ball that hard.’ But you know, he’s a great player, one of the best players to ever play.”

Shohei Ohtani rockets a home run out at 120 MPH 😳 pic.twitter.com/EFxw2IPbUE

— MLB (@MLB) September 2, 2025

Tuesday marked the third-career appearance for Chandler. He began his first two by tossing a combined eight-shutout innings and recording his first save and first win.

Though he was again awarded the win after his latest performance, Chandler didn’t have as clean of an outing, perhaps as to be expected against a Dodgers’ lineup that has an MVP winner in each of the first three spots.

“It’s a really good lineup over there and, so, you know, they can hit heaters and I wasn’t hitting my zones the way I needed to,” Chandler stated. 

Chandler worked four innings out of the bullpen and allowed three runs on six hits, two of which were home runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three, and most importantly, kept the Pirates in position to win the game, which they did 9-7. 

“He continued to make pitches and adjust throughout,” manager Don Kelly said of Chandler’s performance. “That’s something as a young major leaguer, learning how to do that in the middle of a game, he did a great job.”

For Chandler, he won’t ever have to face a lineup much stronger than the one he faced on Tuesday. The Dodgers lead the National League with 204 home runs, a .438 team slugging percentage and a .767 OPS. They’re second in the NL with 707 runs scored. 

Sooner or later, every young player is going to face adversity. Chander faced some for the first time in the big leagues, but he found a way to settle in and got Ohtani to bounce out in the fourth before tossing two-scoreless innings to end his night.

“Yeah, you got to make adjustments,” Chandler said. “What I was doing wasn’t working most of the time, I wasn’t really getting ahead with my offspeed, and coming back with fastballs it was just a lot of fastballs and the offspeed wasn’t where it needed to be. 

“The ones that were in the zone were very hittable pitches that ended up getting hit and it was more of an, ‘Alright, we got to figure out what makes me tick, how can I get the ball to the left side of the plate?’ and I think I did that really well the last two innings.”