What’s the only thing better for a baseball team than one young, flame-throwing right-hander? Two young, flame-throwing right-handers. In that regard, the Pittsburgh Pirates are blessed.

Paul Skenes is the Pirates’ headliner, but he’s not the only highly-touted right-handed pitcher on Pittsburgh’s roster. Bubba Chandler hasn’t seen quite as much early career-success as Skenes, but he’s shown some flashes, especially last season. He’ll start for the seventh time this season when the Pirates play the opener of a three-game road set against the Arizona Diamondbacks at 9:40 p.m. ET.

Opposing Chandler for Arizona will be Eduardo Rodríguez, a veteran left-hander.

Let’s break down this matchup with some odds and lines at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Pittsburgh Pirates at Arizona Diamondbacks prediction, preview

Pittsburgh sits just fourth in the NL Central, but that undersells how good the Pirates have been this season. They’re 19-16 and have the run differential of a 20-15 team; they just happen to play in the most competitive division in baseball. Pittsburgh is coming off of a three-game sweep against the Cincinnati Reds, and it’s taken lots of strides on both sides of the ball. Last season, it finished dead last in OPS, but it sits seventh so far and could get even better now that highly-touted rookie Konnor Griffin is starting to hit the ball well. Infielder Brandon Lowe looks like one of the best offseason acquisitions by any team in the league. Additionally, the Pirates have maintained the strong pitching staff that they had last season, with each of their starters and all but one of their relievers (minimum 10 games played) recording positive WAR.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are under .500 at 16-17, and their run differential suggests that they should be 14-19, as it was tanked by 13-1 and 13-2 defeats to the Milwaukee Brewers last week. Arizona also just got swept by the Chicago Cubs over the weekend, falling in a trio of narrow results. The Diamondbacks have regressed some offensively, dropping from fifth in OPS last season to 11th so far this season, though that can partially be attributed to their trading away Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez at last summer’s trade deadline. Plus, Geraldo Perdomo and Ketel Marte haven’t gotten off to a very hot start, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has been worth negative WAR so far in his return from the torn ACL he suffered in September. Most worryingly, though, Arizona’s pitching hasn’t improved: it ranks dead last in rotation ERA and seventh-to-last in bullpen ERA this season after finishing 19th and 27th in those stats, respectively, last season.

Despite showing plenty of promise in 2025, Chandler has had a rough start to his first full season in the bigs. Through six starts, he owns just a 4.97 ERA, and he’s given up at least three earned runs in four of his starts, including six in his latest road outing against the Texas Rangers on April 23. In particular, Chandler has struggled with walks, leading the National League with 20 free passes issued, and he also hasn’t done a good job inducing ground balls, ranking in just the 17th percentile in that stat. However, the Diamondbacks aren’t well-suited to take advantage of either of those weaknesses; this season, Arizona has earned the second-fewest walks, and it has hit grounders at the 10th-highest rate. Chandler ranks within 10 percentiles of the league median in several other Statcast categories, and he’s done a good job limiting hard hits, which could pose even more problems for a Diamondbacks lineup that has had a lot of soft contact this season. He’s never pitched more than six innings, but Arizona’s aggressiveness and below-median whiff rate should allow him to work through the lineup more quickly and effectively than usual. Five or six innings and two or three earned runs could be a reasonable expectation, especially since he’s been somewhat better on the road so far in his career.

It should be a relatively even starting pitching matchup between Chandler and Rodríguez. The southpaw had struggled in each of the past two seasons, finishing with an ERA north of five, but so far this season, he sports a 3.03 mark, even after giving up at least two runs in each of his past three starts. He also had a solid run with victors Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. However, advanced stats don’t paint such a positive picture of him: he ranks in just the 26th percentile in expected ERA, has struggled mightily to create chases or whiffs, and ranks below the median in every Statcast category except for hard hit rate (52nd percentile) and ground ball rate (51st). His inability to generate chases or whiffs could help neutralize some of Pittsburgh’s offense weaknesses, as should his low strikeout rate and high walk rate. Still, the splits are in his favor: the Pirates have been somewhat worse against left-handed pitchers and significantly worse on the road, posting the third-worst road OPS in baseball so far. Rodríguez should be able to last slightly deeper into the game than Chandler, keeping the ball out of the hands of his bullpen.

Pittsburgh Pirates at Arizona Diamondbacks pick, best bet

Best Bet: Pittsburgh Pirates Moneyline (+113)

There’s some danger to relying too heavily on underlying stats and ignoring surface-level production, but in a battle of two fairly inconsistent starters, Chandler has fewer glaring weaknesses, and I trust Pittsburgh’s bullpen more.

Strong Lean: Konnor Griffin 2+ Total Bases (+152)

Since turning 20 on April 24, Griffin has found his groove, slashing .405/.463/.676 across 10 games and recording at least two total bases in five of them. His advanced numbers still aren’t great overall, but he destroyed left-handed pitchers last season in the minors to the tune of a 1.010 OPS, and he’s gotten somewhat unlucky against lefty changeups like those that Rodríguez likes to throw against righties.