Pittsburgh Pirates Drop Series Opener in Kansas City

Woes continued for the Pittsburgh Pirates when they dropped game one of a two-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Monday night

After earning a series victory against the Colorado Rockies over the weekend the Pittsburgh Pirates were looking to build upon that when they arrived in Kansas City on Monday night. The Pirates were unable to build upon the series victory, however, dropping the first of their two-game series in Kansas City.

With the loss, the Pittsburgh Pirates are now 20-33 on the season. This includes being 1-2 against the Royals. Monday night’s loss came despite the Pirates being able to grab 1-0 lead in the 1st inning. They would add a RBI single by Jacob Stallings in the 2nd inning and a moonshot of a home run by Bryan Reynolds in the 8th, but it would not be enough in the 7-3 loss.

Chad Kuhl returns from the injured list

Monday night Chad Kuhl returned from the injured list, making his 5th start of the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates and his first since April 18. While Kuhl danced through base runners, and some poor defense, in the first two innings of the night, he was able to finish on a high note.

Kuhl allowed a lead off double to Whitt Merrifield in the bottom of the 1st inning. After Merrifield took third base on a wild pitch, Kuhl struck out back-to-back hitters before allowing a two-out, two-strike single to Salvador Perez, plating the first run of the night for the Royals.

In the 2nd inning Kuhl allowed 2 more runs, although a defensive miscue by Cole Tucker was a factor. To Kuhl’s credit he was able to limit the damage after the Royals loaded the bases and appeared primed to potentially blow the game open.

When his night ended Kuhl had allowed 3 runs on 6 hits in 4 innings of work. While he did uncork a pair of wild pitches, he did not walk a batter which was an encouraging sign as control has long been a problem for Kuhl. Leaning on a slider heavy attack, he threw the pitch 57% of the time, Kuhl also struck out 5 Royal batters in his 4 innings of work.

Had it not been for the first two innings running up his pitch count, not all of which was his doing due to Tucker’s defensive miscue, Kuhl likely would have gone at least another inning. This likely would have also been the case had this not been his first start back from the IL. Kuhl would go on to throw 75 pitches in his 4 innings of work, 49 of which went for strikes giving him a 65% strike rate.

Adam Frazier keeps on hitting

Pirate second baseman Adam Frazier doubled to start the game. This added to Frazier’s MLB leading hit total with a nice 69 hits. This was also his 17th double, which ties him with Nolan Arenado for the most doubles in the National League.

Frazier’s lead off double led to them taking an early lead. After advancing to third base on a fly ball Frazier would score on a ground out by Bryan Reynolds, giving the Pittsburgh Pirates a quick 1-0 lead.

As July’s trade deadline continues to get closer Frazier’s trade value continues to do nothing but rise. If Frazier continues to hit anywhere near the way he has for the first two months of the season he will net the Bucs a solid trade package at some point this summer.

One bad pitch proves costly for Duane Underwood Jr.

Derek Shelton summoned righty Duane Underwood Jr. in relief of Kuhl. Underwood Jr. gave the Pirates 3 innings of relief, and, for the most part, these 3 innings were strong one. That said, one bad pitch by Underwood Jr. proved to be costly.

With the Royals leading 3-2 in the 5th inning, Underwood Jr. hung a curveball to Adalberto Mondesi. The budding Kansas City superstar jumped on the pitch and launched it deep into the Kansas City night for a 2-run home run that made the score 5-2 Royals.

Outside of one hanging curveball to Mondesi, Underwood Jr. pitched well. In his 3 innings of work he did not walk a batter, recorded a strikeout and did not allow any other runs outside of the Mondesi blast. Unfortunately, they all count the same, leading to Underwood Jr.’s hanging curveball proving to be costly.

If Underwood Jr. does not hang that curveball and, instead, retires Mondesi, then the game would have been tied at 3 going into the bottom of the 8th inning when the Royals scored twice to extend their lead to 7-3. If this were the case Shelton almost assuredly goes with someone other than Rule 5 pick Luis Oviedo in that inning. Had the Pittsburgh Pirates gone with a more reliable reliever that inning then the two teams might still be playing.

What’s next?

The second and final game of the series is scheduled for 8:10 PM ET on Tuesday night. Wil Crowe (5.67 ERA, 5.56 FIP) is scheduled to start for the Pittsburgh Pirates, while the Royals plan to send righty Brady Singer (4.91 ERA, 3.66 FIP) to the mound.