Johan Oviedo’s Five-Run First Inning in Boston Feels Like Forever Ago (+)
PITTSBURGH — For Johan Oviedo, his 2023 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates couldn’t have gotten off to much worse of a start.
In his first inning of his first start of the season back on Apr. 3 against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Oviedo surrendered five runs, four of which were earned, on three hits. All three of those hits wnet for home runs.
It took the right-hander 30 pitches to get through a long and grueling first inning, but Oviedo struck out Kiké Hernandez to end the frame, perhaps serving as a bit of foreshadowing for what was to come.
Over his next 3.2 innings of that start, Oviedo blanked the Red Sox as the Pirates went on to defeat Boston 7-6 in the first game of what would become an eventual series sweep.
Oviedo quickly put his abysmal first inning behind him and turned in a strong effort the rest of that game. His momentum carried over into his Easter Sunday start against the Chicago White Sox at PNC Park.
Against Chicago, Oviedo was in complete control as the Pirates were able to squeak out a pitcher’s duel 1-0 to win the series.
In his second start of the season, Oviedo held the White Sox scoreless over 6.2 innings. He allowed only five hits (all singles), didn’t walk a batter and struck out five.
“I mean the plan is like always give the team a chance to win and thankfully we achieved that today and we got the win, we win the series so I feel like we as a team we really did a really good job on defense and with hitting,” Oviedo said on his Sunday performance.
Oviedo was complementary of his teammates as a good teammate usually does, but manager Derek Shelton sang Oviedo’s praises after the performance more than the starter was willing to do.
“Gosh, he was outstanding,” Shelton said. “I mean he was in control the whole game. That’s a good lineup, that’s a good team and he executed.”
Ever since coming over in a trade last summer from the St. Louis Cardinals, Oviedo has overall been a strong presence in the Pirates’ rotation.
One element of his game has proven to be his Achilles heel that has led to some inconsistencies. From time to time, Oviedo struggles with his control, but that surely wasn’t the case against the White Sox.
In his Pirates’ career, Oviedo has had three starts where he has walked four or more batters. His ERA in those three starts? 9.58
On the flip side, Oviedo has six starts of issuing fewer than four walks. His ERA in those six starts? 1.14 including four starts of zero earned runs — the last of which, came on Sunday.
“Extremely encouraging (to not walk a batter). I think he built off inning two in Boston. You know inning one in Boston was not a good inning and he built off that and just maintained throughout. The thing that stood out the most was when he was behind in counts, the ability to execute all pitches to get back into counts against, again, a really good lineup,” Shelton said.
Oviedo has the arm and has shown the ability to be a very good starting pitcher in the big leagues. So far through his first nine starts with Pittsburgh, the 25-year-old is 3-2 with a 3.21 ERA.
Still a relatively young and inexperienced arm, this season is largely about growing as a pitcher. For Oviedo, he took a step forward in his last start.
“Big sign of growth to be able to go out in the seventh and control himself emotionally and be able to execute pitches… he was in control the whole game and did a really, really outstanding job,” said Shelton.
Oviedo’s next opportunity for growth will come against the organization that signed him as an amateur free agent in 2016. The Pirates continue their four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night and the big right-hander will be on the mound.