PITTSBURGH — The first RBIs of Chad Kuhl's major league career came at the end of a sequence that mirrored the Pittsburgh Pirates' yo-yo season: one ugly moment quickly followed by something considerably more effective.
Stepping into the box with the bases loaded against Detroit's Matthew Boyd in the fourth inning on Tuesday night with a chance to break things open, Kuhl sat on a fastball only to get a curveball instead. Kuhl lunged at the pitch comically, missing so badly he could practically hear his teammates cackling in the dugout.
So Kuhl took a breath, reset his feet, dug in again and connected.