Weary Hillcats pitchers struggle in loss to Kinston

It’s evident enough from watching Hillcats pitchers Ronald Uviedo and Nate Adcock that both are tired. Uviedo hasn’t been the same since missing a month in the middle of the season with elbow tendinitis, and Adcock has already set a career high for innings pitched.

With that in mind, the Pirates have chosen to piggyback the two pitchers for the rest of the season. Any time Uviedo starts, Adcock follows, and vice versa.

Thursday night at City Stadium, Uviedo didn’t even last long enough for the piggyback system to work properly. He hit the organizational one-inning pitch limit of 30 in his first inning as Kinston jumped all over him in a 10-8 victory.

Adcock, who came to the Hillcats after the Pirates traded Jack Wilson and Ian Snell to Seattle, wasn’t any better. He entered the game in the fourth inning, walked three batters, allowed a home run to Kinston’s No. 9 hitter (Roman Pena) and exited after a 32-pitch inning.

Last week, Hillcats pitching coach Wally Whitehurst said that Uviedo’s innings would begin to be tapered in the season’s final weeks, but he was effective enough in his last two turns, allowing four hits in seven scoreless innings.

But after getting the first out Thursday, Uviedo struggled, allowing an infield single, a walk, an RBI single and finally a three-run home run to Doug Pickens, a moon shot that hit the top portion of the left-field scoreboard.

He was in danger of not even making it out of the first inning, had he not struck out Alex Castillo to end the first.

Adcock, whose previous career high in innings was 106 in 2007, is now at 111, and his 111th inning, thrown Thursday, wasn’t pretty. He walked a .182 hitter with one out, gave up the two-run homer to Pena and walked the next two batters. Adcock struck out Cord Phelps to end the inning. The final strike was his 32nd pitch of the inning.

Strangely enough, the only effective pitcher Thursday for the Hillcats was Moises Robles, who served as the bridge between the two piggyback pitchers. Robles’ last three outings had been ugly — 11 hits and 11 earned runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Thursday, he worked two scoreless innings, allowing one walk and striking out one.

NOTES: RHP Ramon Aguero was promoted to Double-A Altoona and RHP Chris Cullen was activated from the disabled list Thursday to take his place. … Chase d’Arnaud extended his hitting streak to seven games with an RBI double in the fifth. … Kinston starting pitcher Mike McGuire lasted only one inning as well. He left with an apparent injury.