PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates had run into their first real roadblock of their 2018 season, having lost two miserable, blustery games to the Rockies at PNC Park.
For Wednesday afternoon's pleasingly sun-splashed series finale at PNC Park, not only did Clint Hurdle start with Gregory Polanco, Francisco Cervelli, Corey Dickerson and Colin Moran on the bench, the Pirates also had one of their more erratic starters on the mound in Chad Kuhl.
Kuhl had made it through five innings in each of his first three starts, sure, but his sporadic command and middle-of-the-road performance in his Pirates career to date put him behind at least Jameson Taillon, and maybe Trevor Williams and Iván Nova on the confidence scale.