The Pirates got a superb start from Johan Oviedo in St. Louis, but the offense, defense and bullpen all let him down. The result was a 3-0 loss to the Cards.
Oviedo went seven innings on 93 pitches. He fanned a career-high ten, walked one and allowed six hits. The high point in his outing came in the fourth, when the Cards put runners on the corners with nobody out. Oviedo fanned Nolan Gorman and Willson Contreras, then got Nolan Arenado on an easy fly.
Oviedo kept St. Louis off the board until the sixth. Even then, he should have escaped. With a runner on first and one out, Connor Joe, who was playing first base because of something something, botched a chance to get the out at second on a grounder. Gorman singled to center and Jack Suwinski had a chance to get the runner at home, but his throw sailed about 30 feet up the first base line.
The Pirates’ offense meanwhile missed chance after chance. Some of it was just bad luck. They piled up the triple-digit exit velocities against unimpressive St. Louis starter Jake Woodford, but the hits didn’t drop or the Cards made great plays. Andrew McCutchen, in particular, could easily have been 4-for-4 instead of 1-for-4.
Two of the biggest failures came in the second and fourth. In the second, the Bucs loaded the bases with one out, only to have Austin Hedges hit into a double play. In the fourth, Canaan Njigba-Smith singled with two out and stole second. Mark Mathias followed with a single, his first Pirate hit, but Smith-Njigba was easily out at the plate.
After wasting a leadoff double by Hedges in the fifth, the Pirates never threatened. They finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and, of course, the one hit just got them an out at the plate.
When Oviedo departed after the seventh, Derek Shelton went with Duane Underwood, Jr. That illustrated one of the problems the team faces: They have part of a good ballclub, but still have a lot of holes, mainly in the lineup and bullpen. Underwood, Colin Holderman and David Bednar have been effective in innings 7-9, and Dauri Moreta has been very good, but Shelton shouldn’t need to use the same four guys out of an eight-man bullpen whenever the game is in doubt.
Anyway, Underwood was ineffective, allowing two runs and retiring only one of the five batters he faced. Newly arrived Robert Stephenson had to get the last two outs in the eighth.
