Chad Kuhl took the loss for Charlotte on Thursday. Entering in relief for the first time all season after Mike Clevinger's first start of the year, Kuhl gave up six runs over 3⅓ innings to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
It was his truly tough outing of the season, but even if he'd been struggling all of 2024, he wouldn't trade it for 2023, when his midseason DFA came as a relief because he could turn all his attention to his wife's battle with breast cancer.
Stephen Nesbitt of The Athletic wrote a follow-up about the Kuhls. Amanda Kuhl is in maintenance phase of her treatment after a double mastectomy, and says her life is back to "boring." As for Chad, he chose the White Sox partially because of the pitching uncertainty, but also because Liam and Kristi Hendriks relayed positive information about the team's cancer support.
Chad signed with Chicago knowing Charlotte was his likely starting spot this season. “For me, it’s about the opportunity to prove I can be a big league starter,” he said. “If that means I go to Triple A, I go to Triple A.” Chad appreciated that the White Sox had an interest in him for several years. Former White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks and his wife, Kristi, whom the Kuhls befriended this past year, spoke glowingly of how the organization helped line up Hendriks’ treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Chad has a 3.38 ERA through four starts with Triple-A Charlotte, finding success deploying two “new” pitches, a cutter — his old slider, thrown harder — and a sweeper.
That ERA is up to 5.59 after his outing on Thursday, but for now, that's besides the point.
Lehigh Valley 7, Charlotte 6
- Lenyn Sosa went 2-for-5 with a homer, double and strikeout.
- Colson Montgomery was 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Tommy Pham, 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base.
- Oscar Colás was 1-for-3 with a sac fly and stolen base.
- Zach DeLoach, 2-for-4.
- Mike Clevinger: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 35 of 60 pitches for strikes.
- Prelander Berroa: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Birmingham 8, Chattanooga 3
- Terrell Tatum went 1-for-5 with a walk and a strikeout, and 1-for-2 on the basepaths.
- Brooks Baldwin is now hitting .453 after going 4-for-6 with two doubles.
- Edgar Quero was 1-for-5.
- Wilfred Veras went 2-for-5 with a double.
- Bryan Ramos is on the board with his first homer, part of a 2-for-5 night.
- Jacob Burks went 1-for-3 with a double, two walks and a stolen base.
- Jairo Iriarte: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 49 of 81 pitches for strikes.
Highlights:
*Ramos' homer:
Rome 8, Winston-Salem 0
- Loidel Chapelli accounted for half the Dash's hits by going 1-for-4 with a triple and a strikeout.
- Samuel Zavala went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Jacob Gonzalez went 0-for-3 with a K.
- Peyton Pallette: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Kannapolis 9, Charleston 4
- Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-3 with two walks, and was caught stealing.
- Eddie Park was 1-for-4 with a walk.
- Ronny Hernandez went 2-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
- Aldrin Batista: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
