ST. LOUIS (AP) — Bubba Chandler has lived up to the hype so far.
Chandler led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night, pitching four scoreless innings of relief in his second major league game. The 6-foot-3 right-hander allowed one hit, struck out three and walked one.
“The game gets easy when you're not trying to do a whole lot,” Chandler said. “There's been instances where I've tried to make a pitch really good and it hasn't been, so having a batterymate like Henry (Davis) makes it easy, just makes you calm. Just trying to fill up the strike zone.”
The 22-year-old Chandler got the win after he picked up the save in his Pittsburgh debut on Friday night against Colorado. He also worked four scoreless innings in relief against the Rockies.
He became the fifth pitcher to earn a save and a win in his first two major league games since saves became an official stat in 1969.
“He's checking off boxes quickly,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Going four innings for the save, four innings tonight. He did a great job.”
Chandler's arrival has provided a glimmer of hope for Pittsburgh in another lost season. He could join Paul Skenes in a potentially formidable rotation for the Pirates as soon as next year.
But Chandler is working out of the bullpen for now as a way to ease his transition to the majors while the last-place Pirates closely monitor his innings.
Chandler entered Wednesday night's game after starter Carmen Mlodzinski pitched three innings of one-run ball.
After Chandler retired the side in order in the fourth, St. Louis put runners on first and second with one out in the fifth. Iván Herrera lined out to center field on a 100.4 mph fastball and Alec Burleson flied out, ending the inning.
Chandler hit Masyn Winn with a pitch with two outs in the sixth before retiring Thomas Saggese on a grounder to shortstop. Chandler also worked a perfect seventh before he was replaced by Isaac Mattson.
“He's attacking the strike zone and going after it and just allowing his stuff to play,” Kelly said. "It doesn't look like he's trying to do it. He's just out there, he's being athletic, he's being that bulldog that we know he is. Just looking forward to him continuing to attack in that way.
“You see the stuff. It's electric. It's elite.”
Widely regarded as one of baseball's top pitching prospects, Chandler went 5-6 with a 4.05 ERA in 24 starts for Triple-A Indianapolis before he was brought up by the Pirates. The Georgia native was a third-round selection in the 2021 amateur draft.
“Just trying to stack the days,” Chandler said. “The game's hard. It's the big leagues for a reason. Just try to be the best I can when my number gets called.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bubba Chandler stands in the dugout before a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
AL HENAKIYAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Ricky Brabec deliberately gave up his motorbike lead over Luciano Benavides in the Dakar Rally while Nasser Al-Attiyah was happy to cruise through another day closer to his sixth car title on Thursday.
Al-Attiyah started 346-kilometer stage 11 between Bisha north to Al Henakiyah with a 12-minute overall lead and let it drop to less than nine minutes over new second-placed driver Nani Roma in a Ford.
Al-Attiyah was content to let Dacia teammate Sébastien Loeb catch up and pass him to have a teammate nearby for any help and to minimize errors on the mazy, dirt track. Al-Attiyah was 17th, nearly 13 minutes behind stage winner Mattias Ekström, and said he needed to execute the same plan on Friday's last effective racing stage before the end on Saturday.
“If we lose two, three, four minutes no problem,” Al-Attiyah said. “We just need to finish this Dakar in first place.”
Honda cooked up a strategy in the Saudi desert for Adrien van Beveren to open the way and let Brabec catch up after the 190-kilometer pit stop and pick up time bonuses.
Brabec boosted his overall lead from 56 seconds to nearly four minutes just 25 kilometers from the finish. He was also within a minute of the stage lead but he slowed down so KTM rival Benavides was the new overall leader, but only by 23 seconds.
Brabec got his his wish to start Friday's stage 12 six minutes behind Benavides, so he can eye him. They head west to the rally starting point of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast on 311 kilometers of gravel, some river beds with a finish in the dunes.
“A little bit of strategy today and hopefully it pays off tomorrow,” Brabec said. "I feel like its going to be a good day. We’re going back into the rocks so it will be a little bit better for us.”
Brabec is counting on his experience of winning the Dakar in 2020 and 2024 to trump Benavides, who has a best placing of fourth last year.
“I've been in this situation before,” Brabec said. “For the whole two weeks I've been just trying to stay relax, stay comfortable and just be confident, so two days more. I'm gonna do the same thing tomorrow that I've been doing every day; ride dirt bikes and have fun.”
Van Beveren helped Brabec with navigation while fighting with another teammate, Skyler Howes, the entire day for the stage win.
Howes prevailed by 21 seconds for his first career major stage in his eighth Dakar. He was third in 2023 and sixth last year. He's running fifth, 34 minutes off the pace.
Benavides was fourth in the stage and believed the race will be decided on the final 105-kilometer sprint on Saturday.
“I played no strategy like Ricky. I don't care,” Benavides said. “I'm doing what I can to control what I can control.”
Ekström won his third car stage of this Dakar, a special so fast that 12 other drivers were within 10 minutes.
Ford achieved another 1-2-3 stage. Romain Dumas, a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, was a career-best second just over a minute back and Carlos Sainz was third.
Only Toyota's Henk Lategan beat Ekström to a checkpoint but Lategan's podium hopes were wrecked after 140 kilometers when a bearing broke on his rear left wheel. Lategan was second last year and second overall overnight but he plunged out of the top 15, at least.
Loeb moved up to third overall, 10 minutes behind Roma and three minutes ahead of Ekström.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Rider Daniel Sanders competes during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Fabian Lurquin compete during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Rider Skyler Howes competes during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Henk Lategan, left, and co-driver Brett Cummings repair their car during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Nani Roma and co-driver Alex Haro compete during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
