Kuhl listens and delivers strong start
Vogelsong gives youngster tips on managing game
ST. LOUIS — One by one this week, the rookies made their final starts. Jameson Taillon began the trio of finales Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs. Tyler Glasnow continued it Friday. Saturday afternoon, it was Chad Kuhl’s turn.
Kuhl applied some advice he received from the veteran of the staff — the veteran the Pirates will send to the mound today in the season finale — against the St. Louis Cardinals. A strong final outing in a 4-3 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium helped reinforce what 14 starts this season has taught Kuhl: He belongs here.
“I just think that I got a lot of good feedback on what I can do, what works, what doesn’t work, what I need to work on for next year,” Kuhl said.
While navigating multiple baserunners in four of the six innings he began, Kuhl heeded some wisdom from Ryan Vogelsong, who will start today: If you’re racking up outs, work quickly and get in a rhythm. When things get dicey, take your time. Kuhl did so and disrupted the Cardinals’ timing, at one point forcing Jedd Gyorko to step out of the box twice.
“Vogey said hey, that’s the time where, really, you need to slow things down,” Kuhl said. “You want to speed up when you’re going well, but when things aren’t going well, really try and take a step back. I think it worked really well today.”
In 702⁄3 major league innings, Kuhl, 24, had a 4.20 ERA and 53 strikeouts.
“I think after a few starts where I really got comfortable, and then now riding out the rest of the year, it’s not foreign to me,” he said. “I feel like I got really comfortable at the end of the year. That confidence will carry on well to spring training.”
Kuhl stranded each of the first seven Cardinals baserunners, but could not record an out in the sixth. Manager Clint Hurdle pulled him after a double by Brandon Moss with the Pirates leading, 3-0.
“So effective three through five, that’s why we gave him the ball in the sixth,” Hurdle said.
Antonio Bastardo entered and struck out Gyorko. Not only did he walk the next batter, Randal Grichuk, but ball four was a wild pitch that allowed a run to score.
A day after hitting a pinch-hit homer in what could be his final series with the Cardinals, Matt Holliday pinch-hit again in the sixth and drove in a run. Matt Carpenter’s sacrifice fly tied the score at 3-3.
Felipe Rivero recorded two quick outs in the eighth and thought he had the third with a slider to Gyorko that caught the bottom of the strike zone. He started walking off the mound, only to learn that the pitch was ball three. Three pitches later, Gyorko took a 100-mph fastball the opposite way for his second home run of the series, breaking the tie.
“I think he had strike three,” Hurdle said. “Sometimes they don’t get called.”
The Pirates had an early lead on Michael Wacha thanks to Jung Ho Kang’s first-inning, threerun homer. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny pulled the plug on Wacha after one inning and went to the bullpen from there. It worked. Six Cardinals relievers held the Pirates to five hits in eight scoreless innings after the first, with former closer Trevor Rosenthal striking out four in a rare three-inning outing.
“We couldn’t scratch anything out of their bullpen,” Hurdle said.
Bell gets on base
After leading off Friday, Josh Bell returned to the No. 2 spot in the order Saturday.
“We don’t have an ideal spot right now,” Hurdle said. “I think we’ve got a couple ideas that probably have more legs than others. We like what he’s doing.
Bell has a .368 on-base percentage this season.
“I think right now we’ve kind of identified that onbase particle of it playing out,” Hurdle said.
Kang ruffles Cardinals
Kang’s six home runs against the Cardinals this season are the most by any of their opponents. He is hitting .318 against them this year and .323 with eight homers in his career.
“Kang has swung the bat very, very aggressively with power against that staff,” Hurdle said.