Much like what happened to All-Star Mitch Keller in his final start before the All-Star break in Phoenix last Saturday, there was only so much a paltry Pirates offense could do in support of a quality start in an eventual losing effort.
Despite Johan Oviedo's career-high 10 strikeouts across seven polished innings of one-hit baseball, the Pirates could not properly back up a quality start with appropriate run support in their 3-1 loss to the Giants on a rainy Saturday night at PNC Park.
"Yeah, it's extremely frustrating," Derek Shelton said. "Ovi threw the ball great. You give the solo homer but only gave up the one hit. I think he only walked a guy. He was in command and he was in command of the game, and obviously it's frustrating that we weren't able to push more runs across."
Oviedo's line would be accepted anywhere. He went seven innings, gave up only a solo home run to Mike Yastrzemski in the second inning, walked three, and struck out 10 on 107 pitches. His night was punctuated by striking out the side in the seventh, at which point it was a 1-1 game.
Upon Brandon Crawford striking out on a foul tip on a four-seam fastball to close the inning, Oviedo spun 90 degrees, flexed, and yelled in jubilation:
"I would say my command and getting ahead early in the count," Oviedo said. "They were just swinging earlier, and so when they got to two strikes I was just trying to execute good pitches, trying to not do too much, and thankfully we got some strikes."
All 10 of Oviedo's strikeouts were swinging. The whiff mix was split evenly between five strikeouts from his fastball and five from his slider. His seven innings thrown tied a career high, as he had done five times before Saturday. This is the sixth instance in Pirates franchise history in which a pitcher threw seven-plus innings, struck out 10 or more, and allowed one or fewer hits in a game. Oviedo did it for the first time since Francisco Cordova’s no-hitter (combined with Ricardo Rincon) versus Houston on July 12, 1997.
(The Pirates, in those six instances, are 3-3.)
A start of Oviedo's caliber is rarely lamented on after a game, because giving up a as his only blemish is typically capitalized on by an offense.
"My first goal as a pitcher is always to give my team a chance to win the ballgame," Oviedo said. "I'm not worried about things that I cannot control."
Instead, the Pirates' order returned the favor to Oviedo by plating one run -- on Henry Davis' no-doubt solo blast in the second inning -- while the final blow came in the eighth because of slapdash defense backing David Bednar.
It was this single from Michael Conforto that allowed pinch-runner Casey Schmidt to score from second, and it was the game of ping-pong from Tucupita Marcano and Jason Delay -- the latter who replaced Austin Hedges at catcher to begin that inning instead of former first overall pick and college catcher Davis -- that allowed Joc Pederson to come around from first base as Conforto avoided being tagged out by Marcano:
"I think on the Marcano portion of it, I thought that (Marcano could have stayed with the tag) initially," Shelton said, "and then after watching the replay I think once he's by him, once he swiped on the tag he's not going to chase him to the bag, so it's probably a situation there where we've just got to hold the ball."
From there, San Francisco's All-Star closer, Camilo Doval, allowed a leadoff single to Marcano in the ninth but retired the next three in order for his 28th save.
The Pirates left nine runners on base throughout the evening, including two each in the third and seventh innings. There was also a bit of a bad-luck quotient to add in, as a Bryan Reynolds grounder up the hole would have scored Jared Triolo from second, but the ball caromed off of pitcher Alex Cobb's foot and into the range of first baseman LaMonte Wade, Jr. for the final out of the fifth.
"Reynolds hits a rocket right off Cobb's foot and it's a basehit and we're talking about a different game," Shelton said. "Right now, it just -- we're not having that ball get through for us."
In one bright spot for the offense, Triolo extended his hitting streak to eight games with his single in the fifth inning. In 13 major-league games, the 25-year-old is batting .304 with two doubles and five RBIs.
"Consistent swings," Shelton said. "I know he and Andy (Haines) have been working on some things and I think we're seeing his ability to put the bat on the ball. He's been having good at-bats. ... Tri's done a nice job putting himself in a really good spot."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: 2B Ji Hwan Bae (ankle), OF Andrew McCutchen (elbow), 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes (lower back)
• 15-day injured list: LHP Jose Hernandez (calf)
• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), RHP Wil Crowe (shoulder), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Jack Suwinski, CF
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Carlos Santana, 1B
4. Ji-Man Choi, DH
5. Henry Davis, RF
6. Nick Gonzales, 2B
7. Tucupita Marcano, SS
8. Jared Triolo, 3B
9. Austin Hedges, C
And for Gabe Kapler's Giants:
1. LaMonte Wade Jr., 1B
2. Joc Pederson, DH
3. J.D. Davis, 3B
4. Michael Conforto, RF
5. Mike Yastrzemski, CF
6. Patrick Bailey, C
7. Blake Sabol, LF
8. Brandon Crawford, SS
9. Brett Wisely, 2B
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates wrap up their three-game set with the Giants Sunday at 12:05 p.m. at PNC Park, streaming on Peacock. Right-hander Osvaldo Bido (1-1, 4.44 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for the Pirates, while Alex Wood (4-3, 4.68) will pitch for the Giants. DK will cover.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
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