The Pirates struck often in the early innings to back a strong start from Bubba Chandler and defeat the White Sox 9-3 at Rate Field on Tuesday night.
Top 1st, 5-0 PIT:The first seven batters of the game all reached in a five-run inning against Sean Burke (8-7). Bryan Reynolds hit an RBI double that short-hopped the right field wall and Oneil Cruz brought home two more on a double that banged off the center field fence. Esmerlyn Valdez followed with a ground-rule double, and Spencer Horwitz delivered an RBI single to center.
Top 2nd, 7-0 PIT:The Pirates (72-73) loaded the bases against Burke with one out and knocked him out of the game. The White Sox (75-69) turned to Tyler Schweitzer, who allowed a two-RBI single to Horwitz.
Top 5th, 9-0 PIT: Rafael Flores Jr. led off the inning with a home run to left field off José Urquidy. Later on, Reynolds plated Jake Mangum with a sacrifice fly to center.
Bottom 5th, 9-1 PIT:Bubba Chandler (7-9) retired the first 12 batters he faced before Andrew Benintendi led off the fifth with a double to right. He scored on Braden Montgomery's base hit to left.
Bottom 6th, 9-2 PIT: Kyle Teel opened the inning with a home run to right-center.
Bottom 7th, 9-3 PIT:Benintendi doubled an advanced to third on a Wilber Dotel wild pitch. He scored on a Colson Montgomery groundout to shortstop.
After only scoring three runs in a three-game series against the Angels last weekend, the Pirates erupted for five runs in the first inning on Tuesday night.
Rafael Flores Jr. helped pace the offense by matching a career-high with three hits. His solo home run was his eighth of the season.
8️⃣th HR this season for Flo to make the score of this game 8️⃣-0! pic.twitter.com/bp2MnG1dut
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) September 9, 2026
Bryan Reynolds extended his MLB-long on-base streak to 18 games. He's batting .314 (22 for 70) during the streak. Reynolds finished with multiple hits for the fifth time in his last eight games.
Bubba Chandler: 6.0 innings, four hits, two runs, no walks, eight strikeouts, 95 pitches/65 strikes
Rafael Flores Jr.: 3 for 5, one home run, one RBI, one run
Oneil Cruz: 3 for 5, one double, two RBI, one run
Bryan Reynolds: 2 for 4, two doubles, two RBI, two runs
Spencer Horwitz: 2 for 5, three RBI
Konnor Griffin: 2 for 5, one double, one walk, one run
Jake Mangum: 2 for 5, one double, one run, one steal
Bubba Chandler's eight strikeouts were the second-most he's had in a start this season. He struck out 11 Blue Jays in Toronto on May 22.
Pittsburgh tied a season-high in both doubles (six) and extra-base hits (seven). All nine players in the starting lineup had at least one hit.
The Pirates improved to 8-2 against the AL Central this season.
The Pirates recalled LHP Brandon Eisert from Triple-A Indianapolis. RHP Isaac Mattson was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right hip impingement (retroactive to Sep. 6).
The Pirates will go with a bullpen game on Wednesday night. RHP Davis Martin (9-6, 4.13 ERA) toes the rubber for the White Sox. First pitch: 7:40 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh/93.7 The Fan.
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