Kuhl's bullpen experiment has hit early snag

PHILADELPHIA -- One of the themes of the Pirates’ 2021 season, especially here in the homestretch of it, has been to give players different opportunities. As one could safely assume, for a team flirting with 100 losses, the arduous process has had plenty of misses.

But Chad Kuhl’s struggles out of the bullpen is a bit surprising. Of course it’s a new role and a massive change for Kuhl, who had only made one relief appearance as a piggyback starter in 2020 before this season, but it had been long speculated that his stuff would play up as a member of the bullpen. Instead, he has allowed 10 runs, nine earned, over 5 ⅓ innings in September.

That rough stretch continued Thursday. While it was not the most pivotal inning of the Pirates’ 12-6 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, Kuhl once again was taken deep, this time by JT Realmuto for a two-run shot. in his only frame of work in the seventh.

“He just left a fastball down the middle to Realmuto,” Derek Shelton said after the game. “You can’t do that. This guy’s a really good hitter. When you leave balls in the middle of the plate, they’re gonna get hit.”

Shelton was complimentary of Kuhl’s sliders on the night, citing how he struck out Bryce Harper with one. He threw it often, too, for 19 of his 28 pitches. But that pitch was his best offering as a starter, too. Most of his struggles as a starter have come with the fastball.

So while his velocity has taken an uptick since going into the bullpen in August:

The results still aren’t there. On Thursday, that included the home run to Realmuto and missing on a 3-1 sinker to Andrew McCutchen for a walk.

Since going to the bullpen, hitters are 5-for-11 with two homers and a double against his fastball. The slider has been hit a bit more of late too, such as the walkoff home run in the 10th inning Sunday against the Marlins. The move to the bullpen affords him the opportunity to throw his breaking stuff even more, but he will still need to be able to pump a fastball in there. If neither pitch is working, it will be a short outing.

It was reasonable to expect Kuhl to need some time to adjust, but his first few outings were very encouraging. It hasn’t been the same in September. The motivations for the experiment were because the Pirates thought he could succeed in this role, but it’s not certain if that’s to mean Kuhl could be a leverage reliever next year or if this is an audition for a potential trade this offseason. Is a return to the rotation still on the table? As of at least Monday, the Pirates had not had any discussions to move Kuhl back into the rotation. With so little season remaining, it seems unlikely that will happen.

The Kuhl bullpen experiment hasn’t gone as planned early on, and with only 10 games remaining, the best case scenario is he ends on a couple positive outings. But is that enough for the Pirates to continue going down this path with their longest-tenured major league player?

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Kuhl wasn't the only pitcher who got hit hard Thursday. With the exception of Nick Mears, who faced just one batter, every Pirate pitcher allowed at least one run.

After two scoreless innings to start, Shelton tried to get one more frame out of Connor Overton, who allowed the first three runs of his major league career. The game was played in a constant drizzle, which affected the rookie that inning.

"It was like trying to throw a pool cue ball, even the heaters," Overton said. "I would have to try and guide them into the zone because I was afraid if I let it rip. It was just gonna shoot out and hit somebody. The changeup has been my go-to pitch all year, and when I can't grip that, then I’m kind of just throwing it up there."

The big hit of the night though would come in the fifth, with a runner on third and two outs, the Pirates opted to have Anthony Banda intentionally walk Matt Vierling to get to the pitcher spot. There, Ronald Torreyes made the Pirates pay:

This marked the fourth time this season -- and the third this month -- where the Phillies have erased a deficit of six or more runs.

"They can make this ballpark look small with the hitters they have," Shelton said. "That’s a good lineup one through nine. He’s got six bench players to play with, which makes it more functional to pinch-hit. Tonight, they beat us because of that."

The Phillies also got four RBIs and three hits off the bench from Realmuto.

In the bullpen day, the Pirates walked seven and allowed three home runs.

• All 12 of the Phillies' runs were unanswered and came after the Pirates built up a quick 6-0 lead against Aaron Nola. Overton helped his cause early with a two-out, bases loaded bloop, his first hit since high school, in the second. Ke'Bryan Hayes followed with a three-run homer down the line in right.

Colin Moran quickly added a homer in the third, but the Pirates' bats went silent from there, not putting another runner on base the rest of the night.

"I think we got kind of," Shelton said. "... It’s the second time it’s happened on this trip. We have to continue to push when we get leads. That’s just a sign of youth and handling at-bats as we get through the game. It’s something we have to work on and continue to get better at."

"I just feel like the main cause of it was just we were getting behind in the count," Hayes said. "They were able to put together some good ABs and get good pitches to hit. We just fell behind in counts later in the game.”

• After Pirate catchers went a major league record 193 games without a passed ball, Michael Pérez allowed two in the span of six pitches in the third inning Thursday.

• Before the game, David Bednar (oblique) was seen walking in with relievers in full uniform after bullpen sessions. He was supposed to throw a live batting practice soon, director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said Wednesday, but the tarp on the field may have changed those plans.

The hope is that Bednar will pitch again before the end of the season.

• Also before the game, Shelton was asked if he felt he was the same manager he was at the beginning of this season, or if he has changed. He chose the latter.

"I've learned a ton of things about myself as we've gone through this year," he said. "I think I even said it to you guys early in the year about trusting myself in certain situations [when] doing something. We’ve definitely been more aggressive than we were last year, depending on score of game. I definitely think that I've learned a lot and continue to grow, good and bad. I’ve made mistakes [with] decisions and I've reflected on them.

"I'm probably harder on myself than than anybody else can be. I reflect a lot on in-game decisions that we make. So just continuing to learn and grow, asking different people their opinions about decisions that we've made, and kind of go from there."

• The Pirates are now 57-95. They need to go 6-4 in this final stretch in order to prevent the ninth 100-loss season in franchise history.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE HIGHLIGHTS

Video to come

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Yoshi Tsutsugo, RF
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Colin Moran, 1B
5. Anthony Alford, LF
6. Cole Tucker, SS
7. Kevin Newman, 2B
8. Michael Perez, C
9. Connor Overton, RHP

And for Joe Girardi's Reds:

1. Odubel Herrera, CF
2. Jean Segura, 2B
3. Bryce Harper, RF
4. Andrew McCutchen, LF
5. Brad Miller, 1B
6. Freddy Galvis, 3B
7. Didi Gregorious, SS
8. Andrew Knapp, C
9. Aaron Nola, RHP

THE SYSTEM

• Indianapolis
• Altoona
• Greensboro
• Bradenton

THE SCHEDULE

The Pirates will presumably have another bullpen day Friday, starting Sam Howard (3-4, 5.80) against Kyle Gibson (10-8, 3.51). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

THE CONTENT

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