NEW YORK — Clint Hurdle and Ben Potenziano, the Pirates' assistant athletic trainer, exited the dugout shortly after Chad Kuhl threw a sinker low and away to the Mets' Jose Reyes in the fourth inning Tuesday night at Citi Field.
Kuhl threw two warmup pitches after talking to them and remained in the game to finish the fourth. However, he told Hurdle and the training staff in the dugout afterwards that he experienced tightness in his right forearm on his final pitch. The right-hander was removed for a pinch-hitter, and Hurdle declined to give an update on Kuhl's status.
Kuhl was not in the visitors clubhouse following the Pirates' 4-3 loss, and Todd Tomczyk, the Pirates' director of sports medicine, is expected to provide an update Wednesday afternoon.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEO"He thought he felt fine," Hurdle said of Kuhl. "He threw a pitch, felt fine and he felt fine after making the last pitch. I think he said after the last pitch walking off the mound, we got him in the dugout and he felt his right forearm tighten up."
Kuhl allowed two runs on three hits with four walks and two strikeouts in his 16th start of the season. The 26-year-old was tagged for eight runs in two-plus innings last Wednesday against the Diamondbacks, and he looked as uncomfortable on the mound against the Mets (32-45).
Jose Bautista led off the bottom of the first with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Kuhl then walked Asdrubal Cabrera with two outs before another wild pitch put both runners in scoring position. Wilmer Flores then hit a ground ball past David Freese and into left field for a two-run single.
At least one Mets hitter reached safely in each of Kuhl’s four innings, although his defense also committed three errors in that span. He walked the leadoff batter in the third, only to retire three in a row. Kuhl struck out Dominic Smith to lead off the fourth, but Kevin Plawecki reached on an error by Freese.
Two balls later, Kuhl threw a sinker to Reyes that was six inches below the strike zone and proceeded to awkwardly move his right arm.
"After he threw that two-seam down and away, he did something with his arm I thought was normal," Diaz said. "All the time he's got a lot of energy on the mound, so I thought it was normal. But he said he felt something. I don't know what happened after that."
Although Kuhl remained in the game with a pair of groundouts, Hurdle lifted him for Josh Bell later in the inning. Kuhl threw only 73 pitches, 40 of which were strikes; however, his velocity remained consistent.
