There are a couple points that were almost list in the mix of Friday’s near legendary collapse against the Indians. The first, and most important, was that the Pirates finally hung on, got back in the win column and snapped their 10-game skid, winning 11-10.
The second is Chad Kuhl threw his best pitched game of the year to put them in position to win.
“He executed pitches all night, kept them off balance,” Derek Shelton said. “I know the game turned a little ugly on him there, but Chad Kuhl was really important for us."
Kuhl allowed just one run on four hits, a walk, a hitter batter and four strikeouts. He also induced four double-plays, becoming the first Pirate pitcher to do so since Gerrit Cole on August 29, 2013.
He was lifted in the bottom of the sixth, partially for the offensive situation – bases loaded, two outs – and because Shelton saw a good matchup for Sam Howard to enter the game with the Indians’ preparing to send four consecutive lefties to the plate.
That did not work out for Howard, who couldn’t complete the seventh and allowed seven runs, including a grand slam to Cesar Hernandez.
But the Pirates hung on and snapped their longest losing streak since 2011, with their opening day starter being the stopper.
“That's what, really, it comes down to,” Kuhl said. “It's 10 games. A couple of ugly games. A couple of close games. It just felt like we lost in some tough ways. And to finally, no matter how it looked at the end of that, is a really good feeling.”
Kuhl has made three starts since coming off the injured list on June 6. The two at PNC Park have gone very well, each lasting six frames while allowing three earned runs in total. The one on the road in Milwaukee did not go as well, with inconsistent baseballs being the culprit.
After missing a chunk of spring to go home for the birth of his child, Kuhl was not fully stretched out when the season began. When he was, he hit the injured list with right shoulder soreness.
So part of his recent success could be attributed to him being healthy, but he’s also working with a new pitch mix.
For the third game in a row, Kuhl threw more sliders than any other pitch. Of Kuhl’s 77 pitches, 31 were sliders.
If you ask Kuhl, the slider is his go-to pitch.
“I feel like I can throw it for strikes, or for outs or for swing and miss, it's just kind of a pitch that I use in all scenarios,” Kuhl said. “But it plays just so much better when my fastball is in the zone. And that's really what it comes down to. And outings like this where I'm super-efficient: The slider just plays off the fastball and that fastball command.”
Kuhl’s fastballs were definitely in the zone Friday, but with a twist:
They were mostly four-seam fastballs, with only seven of the 30 heaters he threw being sinkers. Kuhl is traditionally a sinker baller, using it almost exclusively last year. He brought back more of a mix this season, and has started to ramp up the four-seam usage as of late.
While Kuhl didn’t get a punchout with that pitch, the Indians went 1-for-4 against it, the one hit being a Bradley Zimmer ground ball single.
“I feel like it played better to the lefties up in the zone,” Kuhl said. “Felt like I could get it to the outside corner, and not have it run off.”
That mix ended up being the right game plan, as Kuhl was able to navigate the Indians’ lineup that was sticked with six left-handed or switch-hitting bats.
More importantly, Kuhl was finally able to get into the win column, though the individual accolade isn’t as important to him.
“It's one of those things where, I just want to win,” Kuhl said. “It's nice to get it attributed to you, but it's just nice to put together another outing where I gave the team a chance to win. It doesn't really matter to me who gets a 'W' next to their name. I just want to win.”
