The Pittsburgh Pirates had their five-game winning streak snapped on Monday night with their 5-0 loss to the San Diego Padres at PNC Park.

Bubba Chandler took the loss for the Pirates after struggling in his second outing of the season, yielding three runs on five hits and four walks with four strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings in his first loss of 2026.

Chandler started well with three scoreless frames, but the wheels started to fall off in the middle innings. He was unable to get through the fifth and again struggled with his command, throwing just 48 of his 83 pitches for strikes.

The 23-year-old rookie was overly hard on himself after the game, blaming himself and taking full responsibility for Pittsburgh’s defeat even though his teammates didn’t score any runs.

 

Pissed off Bubba Chandler takes blame for #Pirates loss, hurting team pic.twitter.com/0Ew1szE6jB

— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) April 7, 2026

 

“I embarrassed myself. I embarrassed the boys,” Chandler told reporters during his postgame interview. “Killed us for the next two games for the bullpen to come in here and clean up my crap… I’m blessed and fortunate enough to have a good body, have a good arm, and I should throw six, seven innings every single time I go out there. Not doing that is pissing me off.”

Chandler did leave a mess for the Pirates’ bullpen to clean up in the fifth inning after surrendering two walks and a ground-rule double, leaving runners on second and third with one out for Yohan Ramirez. Ramirez allowed one of the inherited runners to score before getting out of the jam, pushing Pittsburgh’s deficit to 3-0.

Chandler has battled control issues in both of his starts this year, walking 10 batters in 8 2/3 innings and leaving in the fifth inning both times. His stuff has been good, but he needs to start pounding the strike zone more consistently if he wants to pitch deeper into games.

He’ll look to iron that out in his next start, which will likely come Sunday at the Chicago Cubs. Meanwhile, the Pirates will try to bounce back on Tuesday behind Paul Skenes.

More MLB: How to Watch Paul Skenes Tonight: Channel, Live Stream & Start Time for Pirates vs. Padres