Pittsburgh Pirates: Chad Kuhl Struggles as Team Gets Swept in Kansas City

Sunday afternoon Chad Kuhl struggled in 2.1 innings of work as the Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the Kansas City Royals 11-0 to cap off being swept.

Sunday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates (14-30) faced off against the Royals (20-28) trying to salvage at least one win in the series finale. Unfortunately, the team was unable to do so.

The Pirates sent out Chad Kuhl to toe the rubber, and he faced Brad Keller from the Royals. Kuhl came into this game struggling and looked to redeem himself as the season is coming to an end. Again, unfortuantely, this was not the case. Following a woeful start from Kuhl, the Pirates were 11-0 losers against the Royals.

Chad Kuhl

This game was not pretty for Kuhl, and that’s putting it lightly. In the 1st inning, he managed to throw 32 pitches, which is the running theme this year with starting pitchers for the Buccos. He was extremely wild today, and it wasn’t pitches barely missing the strike zone they weren’t even close most of the day.

With the 16 batters he faced, Kuhl only managed seven first-pitch strikes and had count leverage on four occasions. Needless to say, he was working from behind all afternoon. He was in behind the count in 15 different scenarios, thus walking six, which ties a career-high for him. Kuhl got pulled in the 3rd inning with a line reading, 2.1 innings pitched, four hits, 6 walks, 9 runs allowed, and five strikeouts. Today was a very ugly day for Kuhl.

The Bullpen

Nick Tropeano came on to finish out the 3rd inning with the bases loaded and only one out. Tropeano allowed three inherited runners to score, and allowed one of his own as well. I understand you can’t expect him to walk out unscathed but to let in another four is not good enough. The next inning, he looked a lot better, giving up just one hit and retiring the other three batters he faced. His day ended after pitching 2.2 innings. He gave up four hits, 1 run, he walked one, and struck out six. Not a bad outing, but not great either.

Next came Dovydas Neverauskas in the 6th inning. The man with a name spelling bee contestants probably fear. That fear tends to end there because opposing batters lick their chops when they see him come to the mound. He did give up a solo shot to Hunter Dozier in the 6th, making it 11-0, but he did not allow another run. His line read 2 innings of work, one run, two hits, a walk, and two strikeouts. Again, not great but not terrible.

The last to come on in mop-up duty was Richard Rodriguez. Rich Rod has had a strong bounce back year with a 3.28 ERA and a 2-2 record. He gave up back to back hits to start off the inning but got the next two, and what we thought was the third, but thanks to a petty challenge on interference, Rich Rod was pulled with the bases loaded. Austin Davis then relieved Rodriguez and needed just one pitch to end the inning, making Mike Matheny take home the Petty Betty award.

Hitting

There was damn near nothing to talk about with the hitting for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They managed just five hits in a terrible all around offensive effort. I will mention Brad Keller looked terrific with just a two-ish pitch repertoire that the Pirates just could not solve.

Keller pitched the first complete game shutout in his career. Only two Pirate base runners, Colin Moran and John Ryan Murphy, even reached socring position on Sunday afternoon.

Folks, as the season is coming to an end, I can’t say I didn’t expect this from the Pittsburgh Pirates this year. I have to say, though, this game had to be one of the most aggravating and excruciating games to watch, baring the no-hit game this year. The Pirates dropped this game 11-0.

Final Thoughts

• There has to be something wrong with Kuhl.
• I still hate Mike Matheny
• I’m excited to see Mitch Keller tomorrow.
• God, please give us Kumar.