Pirates fail to support starting pitcher Johan Oviedo in 3-0 loss to Cardinals

For Johan Oviedo, there was no deeply hidden secret to pitching against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

“I tried to enjoy my time pitching out there. Have fun and just don’t think,” he said on AT&T SportsNet.

When it comes to not thinking, perhaps he would prefer to dwell on anything other than the game’s outcome — the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 3-0 loss to the Cardinals (6-8) at Busch Stadium.

A career night for Johan Oviedo. pic.twitter.com/XNjpyQgQRq

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 15, 2023

Oviedo was in command for most of his seven innings, limiting the Cardinals to six hits, one walk and one run and striking out 10 batters. That makes 13⅔ innings this week – counting his start Sunday against the Chicago White Sox — in which he has allowed only one run, one walk and 11 hits while striking out 15.

And, by the way, he’s only in the Pirates’ starting rotation because J.T. Brubaker (Tommy John surgery) is lost for the season.

The only run Oviedo allowed could have been avoided.

In the sixth, Nolan Arenado led off with a single and moved to second when backup first baseman Connor Joe failed to cleanly handle a ground ball by Willson Contreras. Joe was in the lineup because of an injury to Ji-man Choi.

Joe got the out at first, but the bobble cost him a chance to nail Arenado at second.

A subsequent single by Nolan Gorman scored the first run of the game, and the first against the Pirates in 16 innings.

“He pitched really well. He controlled them,” manager Derek Shelton said. “He gave up the one run on a ball that was a good pitch (98 mph 4-seamer) and Gorman did a good job of getting it into the outfield.”

The key for Oviedo was mixing his slider with the curveball. He threw those pitches 70% of the time while mixing in the fastball that touched the high 90s.

“The slider was elite. We saw him get some really weak contact and weak swings off it,” Shelton said. “He was really sharp, just commanded the zone, (went) right at people and used his breaking ball really efficiently.

“The fact that he was able to mix and match was really important, and we saw, even when he was behind in the count, (he was) able to execute the breaking ball in the zone.”

Oviedo was at his best with runners on the corners in the fourth inning when he threw seven consecutive breaking pitches for strikes to get out of the jam. He struck out Willson Contreras and Gorman, starting each with the curveball and coming back with two sliders to get two of his 13 swings and misses. Then, Tyler O’Neill flied out on an 80-mph curveball.

“I’ve always been really comfortable with my curveball,” he said.

Oviedo said the root of his success in the two games this week can be traced to his teammates and coaching staff.

“We have a really good group of guys and we love each other, to be honest,” said Oviedo, who was acquired from the Cardinals last year in the Jose Quintana trade.

“It helps when you have such cool people around and coaches trusting you and believing in you. It’s easier to go out there and be yourself.”

But he can’t win by himself.

The Pirates (8-6) had hits in six of the nine innings (a total of eight), but seven were singles. They only came close to scoring once.

With two out in the fourth, Canaan Smith-Njigba singled off the second base bag, the baseball bouncing into center field. He stole second, but after Mark Mathias’ single — his first hit as a member of the Pirates — Smith-Njjigba was thrown out at home by right fielder Alec Burleson.

“We had some opportunities and we just didn’t capitalize,” Shelton said. “We had some really bad luck today.”

He was referring to the 11 baseballs that left Pirates bats at more than 100 mph. Eight were turned into outs by the slick-fielding Cardinals.

“It’s a different game if those balls get down,” Shelton said. “They catch the baseball. We know that, and they played really good defense and that was the difference in the game.

“There’s nothing you can do when you hit the ball that hard, and we didn’t get the ball to fall.”