Potanko: Oviedo’s Between the Shoulder Game is Remarkable (+)
PITTSBURGH- For the better part of the evening, the Pittsburgh Pirates were having a miserable game. One Pirate in particular that has seen better days is Johan Oviedo.
The big right-hander out of Cuba had to labor through most of his start, and as a result, he pitched 5+ innings and gave up eight earned runs on nine hits.
One area of concern for Oviedo on the evening was his control of the strike zone. Other than walking three batters on the evening, it seemed like Oviedo just didn’t have his A+ stuff.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton spoke on Oviedo’s outing and why he struggled.
“Command of the strike zone,” said Shelton. “There were a lot of deep counts. We were hoping to get him through the sixth there, and the command of the fastball just wasn’t good.”
Saturday’s game marks Oviedo’s fifth-straight start, where he suffered the loss.
Other than Saturday’s outing, Oviedo has pitched extremely well in that span. I would imagine that having that conversation with him is a difficult one to navigate through.
“We just got to keep going with him. There’s some maturation because he’s pitched well and not gotten any results, and then today, he doesn’t pitch well. We have to keep going, we have to keep telling him what he’s done in his last couple of starts and continue to do that. We know when starters go out there, they’re not going to have their A stuff and he just didn’t have his A stuff today.”
You could see when Oviedo was on the mound that he just didn’t have his best stuff, and it seemed to bother him quite a bit.
“I don’t know what happened to be honest,” said Oviedo. “I just know that I have to be better.” That response alone gave off a very frustrated vibe from the Cuban native.
“In the first inning, I tried to limit damage,” said Oviedo. “Things worked out in a good way in the first inning, and it didn’t go well in the second. I can control what I can control. As soon as the ball is out of my hands, I can’t control whatever happens out there. Things didn’t work out the way I wanted it too and I just got to keep going and keep moving forward.”
As I had mentioned before, Oviedo has now gone five straight games as the losing pitcher. I’d imagine that it’s rather hard to remain positive in a situation like that.
“In the moment, it’s frustrating. You always want to give yourself and the team a better chance to win the ball game. In the moment, you’re definitely going to get mad about it and try to figure out what’s wrong and where you can do better next time. As soon as I get out, I’m just thinking about my next outing and look what I can do to be better in my next outing.”
It would seem that Oviedo has got a good head between his shoulders and has one of those “kicker memories” where they forget the last play and focus on the next one.
Oviedo will definitely need that if he wants to have a long and successful career. Baseball is the biggest roller coaster ride there is, and you have to ride those downhill moments along with the uphill moments.
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