BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Pirates were blown out by the Baltimore Orioles for the second day in a row Friday, losing at home, 11-4.
It was also the return of Chad Kuhl, who faced another team's batters for the first time in over 20 months.
When asked if he was nervous at all for that debut, Kuhl referenced Peyton Manning: "You don't get nervous when you know what the hell you're doing."
Kuhl paraphrased a bit ("Pressure is something you feel when you don't know what the hell you're doing"), perhaps fittingly because, as he would admit, yeah, he was feeling some nerves. After all, you can game plan and pitch bullpens and live batting practice, but nothing compares to a real game. Even a spring training game.
"Every game has nerves," Kuhl said. "It's been 20 months since I've been on the mound. Of course. We're all human, so you get nerves.
"But once you get out there, it's just baseball again."
Just baseball again. That's what he has been working towards for over a year and a half.
And for 23 pitches in the sixth inning, it was just baseball. His final line was humdrum -- a walk, a single, a strikeout and a ground out, with those two runners eventually scoring and being charged to him -- but it was a landmark day that he finally passed.
"Just to be able to say, 'it's not my first time back' anymore the next time we go out, as we move past all this," Kuhl said. "Feel even more like a regular guy. Part of the team."
Speaking of that team.
JT Brubaker saw what Kuhl went through last year on his road to recovery, spending a good chunk of last season in Pirate City rehabbing alongside him.
"That was exciting," Brubaker was telling me. "I got chills... I wish I had a better view than just the bullpen."
The rest of the clubhouse was excited for him, too.
"It was good to see him back on the mound," Derek Shelton said.
"He's worked his ass off," Trevor Williams said.
"I'm happy for him. I wish we could have got him out of that inning," his catcher, John Ryan Murphy, said.
Back to Kuhl. Just baseball again Kuhl. His fastball sat at 93-94 mph, but he felt like his command was just ok.
"I felt like I was just dancing around the zone," Kuhl said. "I feel like I didn't fill it up as best I could."
There was plenty of breaking stuff, though. Back in January at PiratesFest, he talked about how he was a bit nervous to throw that first slider in his rehab, one of the final hurdles he still had to overcome before returning to game situations.
Watching him Friday, you wouldn't be able to tell he had any reservations with it, offering it often and getting his strikeout on a slider.
"I just wanted to go out and throw everything. Throw all my stuff," Kuhl said. "I feel like I did that... I think it's going to be a good four pitch mix once I get extended and add the changeup."
And perhaps most important of all, he felt he maintained the integrity of his delivery. He's worked on it to try to put less stress on his arm and elbow.
Kuhl threw a two inning sim game five days ago and imagines he will stay on that five day routine going forward. He hopes to go out for a second inning in his next outing.
You know, the next one. The one after the return.
"I'm just looking forward to when all the questions go away and I get to just pitch, play and be normal again," he said to close out the scrum, in fitting fashion.
• Williams was knocked around for the second time in as many spring appearances, allowing four runs on four hits and two walks, striking out two while facing a full count.
Of his 46 pitches, 24 were strikes.
"At this point in spring training, I feel like my body's where it needs to be at," Williams said. "Now you're just honing in on pitch execution, working to the edges of the plate rather than the white.
"Results wise, you don't love it, but where my body is at, where my brain's at, I feel like I'm at a good spot to where I need to be progressing on in spring."
Shelton cited Williams' pitch execution as well.
"I think his fastball was fine," Shelton said. "He just didn't have a great feel for his breaking ball."
Williams said he felt he had a little more power on his fastball this time than his debut on Feb. 23. He did dial it up to 95 mph, shattering Dwight Smith Jr.'s bat in the process.
"The wind was blowing in today," he joked.
• Kuhl's old rehab throwing partner, Edgar Santana, made his second appearance of the spring, working efficiently for a perfect ninth inning.
"I think as he gets more comfortable on the mound, we're going to continue to see the ball come out of his hand [well]," Shelton said.
• Murphy provided all the offense in the fourth, drilling a no-doubter grand slam to left.
The Pirates have hit two home runs this spring, both of them off the bat of their third-string catcher. And this one was off a high number guy, double-A pitcher Brian Gonzalez.
But for the glass whatever-percentage-full people, that's pretty good for a guy that slashed .175/.246/.413 in an abbreviated major-league stint a year ago.
"If anything, it gives me confidence with the work that I did in the offseason," Murphy said.
This offseason, Murphy said he wanted to learn as much as he could about how his body moves.
"Once I did that, I paired that with all the data that I've put on the tape the last two seasons and then figured out a plan," he said.
• Murphy is in a battle with Luke Maile for the backup catcher spot, but with the major-league roster expanding to 26 players, that could open the door to carrying three catchers. Murphy was part of a three catcher unit a year ago with the Diamondbacks.
Shelton said "anything is a possibility" when asked if the team could open the season with three backstops and then praised Murphy.
"We haven't really gotten that far along on it, but he's been good. He's had good at-bats. He's thrown the ball well."
• Maile was supposed to start this game behind the plate, but was scratched with left hamstring soreness. He told me this was the first time he felt sore, so it wasn't something he had been dealing with this spring.
The Pirates say he is day-to-day.
• Erik Gonzalez said he expects to start his base running program this weekend.
Gonzalez broke his left foot during winter ball and had hoped to come to spring training fully recovered, but experienced a setback during camp.
He has yet to appear in a spring training game this year.
Gonzalez said his foot feels "95 percent right now."
"I feel stronger," he added.
• Jarrod Dyson made his Pirates debut. He made solid contact on a couple pulled foul balls and ended up going 0-2 with a walk.
• Game time for this one was three hours and 41 minutes. That should be illegal for spring.
• Who threw today:
Trevor Williams: 1+ IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 2 K, 2 BB
Nick Mears: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Steven Brault: 1.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 K
Blake Cederlind: 0.2 IP, 2 K, 1 BB
Michael Feliz: 1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 K
Chad Kuhl: 0.2 IP, 2 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 1 BB
Sammy Reyes: 0.1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 1 BB
JT Brubaker: 1.1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 1 BB
Nik Turley: 0.2 IP, 2 K
Edgar Santana: 1 IP, 1 K