Pittsburgh didn't wait around. The first five balls the Pirates put in play against Burke left the bat at 99.5 mph or harder, and the first 7 hitters he faced all reached base, according to the Sun-Times. By the time Burke walked the bases loaded and was pulled early in the second inning, the deficit was already enormous, and Chandler had all the cushion he needed to work with.
Burke finished with a career-high 7 runs allowed on 8 hits in just 1.1 innings, a stunning reversal from the scoreless outing he'd turned in five days earlier. Chicago's bullpen mopped up from there, and while the offense clawed back a run in each of the 5th, 6th and 7th innings to make it respectable, the hole from that first inning was always going to be too deep to climb out of against a Pirates lineup that had 18 hits on the night.
The Polymarket chat room noticed the shift fast — "Pirates gonna fumble this" got 19 reactions in the early innings, and even as the lead held, someone still holding the White Sox cracked "pirates known for blowing 9-0 leads" for another 15. Neither one aged well. Pittsburgh's bullpen, which has been one of the better units in the sport since the trade deadline, needed only to hold a laugher, and did.
Both clubs are still fighting for something. The White Sox, two years removed from a 41-121 season, are trying to lock up their first playoff trip since 2021 and would rather not be searching for rotation answers with 2.5 weeks left, per the Sun-Times. Manager Will Venable floated leaning harder on bullpen games behind Burke if the rest of the rotation doesn't settle down. Pittsburgh, at 71-73, needs a real hot streak the rest of the way to make any playoff noise at all — Tuesday was exactly the kind of game that keeps that thin hope alive.