The Pirates kicked off a nine game homestand where they’ll take on two division leaders, after facing current AL Wild Card Toronto Blue Jays.
Johan Oviedo notched his first MLB start for the Pittsburgh Pirates after his acquisition at the deadline.
Oviedo was inefficiently effective. He was able to throw three scoreless innings but it took 77 pitches of which 46 were strikes. For comparison opposing starter for the Blue Jays Alek Manoah was at only 75 pitches after six innings. Oviedo recorded four strike outs while allowing two hits and three walks. He threw a four seam fastball that touched 98.5 MPH, ranging from 96.3-98.5 MPH, and a slider that accounted for 54 of his 77 pitches. He also threw a curveball 12 times along with 11 changeups.
Recent long reliever-turned starter and now back to long reliever Tyler Beede followed Oviedo. He gave up two doubles and a single to the first three hitters he faced in the fourth inning that resulted in two runs and a 2-0 lead for the Blue Jays. That would be all the damage against Beede as he’d complete three innings with the two earned runs along with five hits, a walk, a HBP, and one strike out.
Chase De Jong covered the seventh and eighth inning. He stretched his scoreless streak to seven appearances over 17 IP. He allowed a hit, two walks, while striking out one batter.
In the ninth with the Blue Jays leading 2-0 the Pirates turned to Yohan Ramirez. He struck out the first two batters he faced before walking Alejandro Kirk followed by a Bo Bichette two-run homerun that accounted for the final runs in the 4-0 defeat.
The Pirates never really threatened as they were only able to get five hits and a walk against Manoah through 7.1 innings. Four of the five hits were singles with only Tyler Heineman hitting for extra bases, a double in the third inning. The Pirates otherwise went 0-for-3 with RISP and weren’t able to get a hit against the Blue Jays bullpen.
Heineman, Cal Mitchell, and Jack Suwinski accounted for all of the Pirates baserunners on the evening. Mitchell and Suwinski combined to go 3-for-6 with a walk.
Blue Jays @ Pirates
Time: 6:35 PM EST
Pirates Starter: Roansy Contreras (4-4, 3.57)
Blue Jays Starter: Trevor Richards (3-1, 4.53)
Contreras Notes: Roansy Contreras recorded his third victory of the season in his last start after he pitched five scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies. This will be his 13th start of the season for the Pirates. Contreras has thrown at least five innings in each of his last four big league starts. In the month of August he recorded three starts that covered 18.0 innings and had a 3.00 ERA.
LINEUPS:
Pirates
Happy Roansy Day!#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/6LYiL1QoPE
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) September 3, 2022
Blue Jays
1. George Springer (R) DH
2. Vladimir Guerrero (R) 1B
3. Teoscar Hernandez (R) RF
4. Matt Chapman (R) 3B
5. Bo Bichette (R) SS
6. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (R) LF
7. Santiago Espinal (R) 2B
8. Raimel Tapia (L) CF
9. Danny Jansen (R) C
