Pirates Takeaways: Oviedo Bends, Doesn’t Break In Pirates Debut (+)
PITTSBURGH — Johan Oviedo took the mound as the starter in his Pittsburgh Pirates’ debut in Friday night’s 4-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
The big right-hander worked three scoreless innings at PNC Park, allowed a pair of singles, walked three and struck out four. He was acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in the Jose Quintana trade Aug. 1 and optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Three of those strikeouts came in the first inning. Oviedo mowed down the top of Toronto’s line up in order, which is no easy task. Toronto has a top of the order that could rival any team in the league.
“It was fun, I really enjoyed it. It was three really good at-bats by those guys,” Oviedo said.
After the first inning, Oviedo had to deal with traffic on the bases, so he took it upon himself to challenge the Blue Jays’ batters and keep them from scoring.
“I would just try and throw it around the middle and see what they could do, just attack them,” Oviedo said.
The biggest problem for Oviedo in his outing was efficiency, as it took him 77 pitches to get through his three innings.
Still, while the Pirates would have liked to see Oviedo go deeper into the game, he did what he was tasked with doing and kept his team in the game.
“Overall, impressed with the stuff, we just need to make sure we condense the pitches, just too many pitches per plat appearance,” said manager Derek Shelton.
When the Pirates acquired him from the Cardinals, they decided to get him work as a starting pitcher, even though most of his time in the major leagues this season came out of the bullpen.
The 24-year-old should get more chances in these final five weeks of the season to prove he can be a capable starter in the big leagues.
“It means a lot to me and all the work I’ve put in. I’m really happy and excited to see what I can do,” Oviedo said.
Flashing The Leather
Defensively, the Pirates made a handful of impressive plays behind their pitchers.
In the top of the fourth inning, Oneil Cruz saved a run as he robbed Teoscar Hernandez of a hit. Cruz had to range for to his right to pick up a grounder, then showcased his strong arm to get Hernandez by a step.
With two on and two out in the second, Ke’Bryan Hayes made a nice play at third base and a stretch at first from Michael Chavis got Santiago Espinal by a step to prevent a potential big inning.
Tucupita Marcano tracked down a hit towards the left field line off the bat of Bo Bichette and delivered a perfect strike to gun down Bichette trying to stretch the base hit into a double in the fifth inning.
Catcher Tyler Heineman caught Espinal trying to steal second base with a strong throw in the sixth inning. His pop time is impressive. That play was quickly followed by a nice sliding grab from center fielder Bryan Reynolds.
“We played really well defensively. We have to play well defensively to give ourselves a chance to stay in games, but tonight I thought defensively we played really well,” said Shelton.
The sound defense was welcomed after the Pirates committed a pair of costly errors in their loss to the Brewers on Wednesday.
Home Sweet Home
Jack Suwinski seems to love hitting at PNC Park.
With two more hits in Friday’s loss, the outfielder is batting .308 in 38 home games this season. On the year, Suwinski has hit 11 home runs in his home yard and has driven in 19 runs.
Compare that to the poor showing Suwinski has posted in away games this season. In 37 games away from PNC Park, Suwinski is hitting just .115 with a .431 OPS, three home runs and six RBIs.
The good news for the rookie is that the Pirates are playing at home for their next eight games and for 18 of their final 31.
Still, he will look to even out those drastic home/road splits the final month-plus of the season.