Kuhl dazzles but Virtual Pirates shut out



I will be serving as general manager/manage of the Pirates in a 2020 season simulation along with 29 others using Out Of The Park Baseball. Feel free to check here for daily updates. I realize baseball is a lot less important than what is going on in the world today but perhaps it can provide a diversion for a few moments.

 PITTSBURGH – Chad Kuhl was outstanding in his season debut. That was just not quite good enough, though.

Kuhl allowed only one run and two hits in six innings after being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis before the game but the Pirates were blanked 1-0 by the Virtual Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night at Virtual PNC Park.

Kyle Hendricks (1-0) pitched a five-hit shutout. The right-hander struck out five and walked one in a 116-pitch effort as he dropped the Pirates to 5-7.

Albert Almora’s leadoff home run in the third inning accounted for the game’s lone run.

Kris Bryant’s fourth-inning single off Kuhl was the Cubs’ only other hit. Michael Feliz, Kyle Crick and Blake Weiman combined for three innings of hitless relief.

Kuhl had three strikeouts and no walks.

He was making a spot start in place of Joe Musgrove, who received a six-game suspension for his role in a benches-clearing incident last Thursday against the Cincinnati Reds. Musgrove is expected to pitch Friday night against the Orioles in Baltimore.

 Kuhl was optioned to Indianapolis after the game and relief prospect Blake Cederlind was recalled from Indy.

Bryan Reynolds had two hits for the Pirates.

The Virtual Buccos’ best opportunity against Hendricks came in the eighth inning when they put runners on first and second with none out. However, Adam Frazier hit into a force play to end the rally.

Frazier continues to struggle, going 4 for 31 in his last seven games. His season batting average is down to .167.

The Pirates will try to salvage a split of the fourth-game series Thursday when Mitch Keller (1-0, 4.00) pitches against left-hander Jose Quintana (1-1, 5.54).


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letter aside, my Hall voting methods won't change

Image
Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan is undoubtedly one of the top baseball writers in the country and I’m proud to call him a friend. However, I am not going to follow his lead and refuse to vote in the Hall of Fame election. I certainly understand Passan’s reasons for declining to cast a ballot. I believe it was quite heavy handed of Joe Morgan and the Hall of Fame to send a letter to the voters last week urging us not to vote for anyone who has been connected to performance enhancing drugs. As I wrote last week, the toothpaste is already out of the tube on that issue. I have already voted for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens during each of the six years they have been on the ballot. My biggest issue with Morgan and the people in Cooperstown is that their advice is too little, too late. For nearly a decade, the Baseball Writers Association of America asked the Hall for guidance on how to deal with players who had been linked to PEDs and the answer was always “sorry, you’re on your ow...
Read more

My 2022 MLB Predictions

Image
Here's how I see the 2022 MLB season turning out: AMERICAN LEAGUE AL East 1-Toronto 2-Tampa Bay 3-Boston 4-New York Yankees 5-Baltimore   AL Central 1-Chicago White Sox 2-Cleveland 3-Detroit 4-Minnesota 5-Kansas City   AL West 1-Houston 2-Oakland 3-Los Angeles Angels 4-Texas 5-Seattle   AL PLAYOFFS AL Wild Card: White Sox def. Boston, Tampa Bay def. Oakland ALDS: Toronto def. Tampa Bay, Houston def. White Sox ALCS: Toronto def. Houston   NATIONAL LEAGUE NL East 1-Atlanta 2-Washington 3-Philadelphia 4-Miami 5-New York Mets   NL Central 1-Milwaukee 2-Cincinnati 3-St. Louis 4-Chicago Cubs 5-Pittsburgh   NL West 1-Los Angeles Dodgers 2-San Francisco 3-San Diego 4-Colorado 5-Arizona   NL PLAYOFFS NL Wild Card: Milwaukee def. Cincinnati, San Francisco def. San Diego NLDS: Dodgers def. San Francisco, Atlanta def. Milwaukee NLCS: Dodgers def. Atlanta ...
Read more

Will Pittsburgh Pirates non-tender Jordy Mercer?

Image
One can’t help but wonder if Jordy Mercer’s run with the Pittsburgh Pirates might end Friday night when the deadline arrives for tendering contracts to arbitration-eligible players. Mercer figures to have a salary of approximately $6.5 million in 2018 if he goes through the arbitration process for the third and final time. On the surface, that price does not seem unreasonable for a shortstop who hit .255/.326/.406 with 14 home runs in 502 at-bats with 1.4 bWAR. However, it is fair to wonder if the Pirates would be willing to pay that much money to Mercer when they already have 10 players under contract for 2018 for a total of just over $75 million. That doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for a team that finished last season with a $102-million payroll and figures to pay around $7.5 million to right-hander Gerrit Cole and $3 million to closer Felipe Rivero in arbitration. Furthermore, it is hard to imagine the penny-pinching Pirates opening next season with a higher...
Read more