There are going to be a lot of bumps and bruises as the Pirates continue to rebuild and younger players truly suffer through some learning experiences. While most members of the 2021 team might not factor into the club’s long-term future, there are few that could potentially still be around if things start to turn the corner for the franchise.
At this point in the rebuild, Luis Oviedo seems like he might just be one of those young players. And on Monday night, he took a crash course in dealing with adversity.
The 21-year-old took the loss after being torched for five runs over 1 2/3 innings as the Pirates dropped a 6-2 decision to the Padres on Monday at PNC Park.
“Even though I didn’t get the results that I wanted, you grow, you learn from those experiences and you keep preparing and battling for the next one,” Oviedo said through team interpreter Mike Gonzalez. “Try to help this team and this organization win.”
Oviedo, a Rule 5 draft pick, had never pitched above Class A before this season and was limited to just three outings in the spring. But he was impressive through his first two outings of the regular season. So much so that his manager, Derek Shelton, planned to use the young right-hander for two innings against the heart of one of the toughest lineups in the game.
“I saw the situation like any situation,” Oviedo said. “I’m always prepared to come out whenever the team needs me, and depending on the situation, I was able to come out.”
GETTY
Luis Oviedo.
But, as Monday night proved, life in the majors isn’t always going to be smooth sailing.
Wil Myers tallied four of his five RBIs against Oviedo, first with a two-run shot to straightaway center in the sixth, then on a bloop up the middle off the fists in the following inning. Victor Caratini also added a run on a double to left-center in the sixth.
Although he’d recorded just five outs, the three hardest hit balls in the game were against Oviedo. Tommy Pham and Manny Machado each singled at 110 and 109 mph, respectively. And Myers’ homer left the bat at 104.9 mph.
“His breaking stuff wasn't as sharp tonight -- well he wasn't sharp at all,” Shelton said. “The fastball was down in the middle of the plate, and the breaking ball wasn't as sharp as it had been previously.”
Oviedo completed two innings in his previous outing against the Reds last week. He struck out four in that game but yielded a solo shot to Mike Moustakas -- the only blemish on his record.
He entered a 1-1 game Monday in the sixth against Machado, who never took the bat off of his shoulder and drew a six-pitch walk to open the frame. Within the next five pitches, it was a 3-1 game on Myers’ homer. That situation is not uncommon for a reliever, but understanding how to minimize immediate damage is the type of lesson that a converted starter like Oviedo must learn.
“I think it’s simple,” Oviedo said. “I was getting behind in the counts, and they were noticing that I was missing the zone, and they were able to identify good balls in the zone and make good contact with them.”
The Padres, and Machado in particular, chased Oviedo before he could complete the seventh. But rather than just flushing this one away, this could count as a valuable learning experience.
Monday’s starter, Trevor Cahill, has been pitching in the majors for more than 12 years. Out of necessity, he has bounced from starter to reliever, and vice versa. Cahill remembers his first bullpen experiences -- which came when he was already a few seasons into his big-league career -- to be particularly nerve wracking.
“When I was a starter and came out of the bullpen for the first time I almost had to call the trainer because my heart was beating so fast. And that was eight, nine years in," Cahill said. "What he’s going through right now and how he’s handling it – and just missing, too – is pretty impressive. He’s just got to keep it going.”
Before either Oviedo or Shelton could take a look at the big picture, however, they’re taking a more simplistic approach overall.
“It’s just continuing to attack hitters. Have a mindset and a mentality to go out there and attack,” Oviedo said. “Do everything possible not to get behind in the counts. Continue to prepare and work hard. That’s the mindset. That’s the mentality. This is baseball, and my goal is to continue working hard and come back strong.”
Generally, it would not be advisable to bring a very young and inexperienced reliever out for a second inning to face the top of the lineup after he’d been hit hard in the previous frame. But for the Pirates in 2021, is it more important that the team maintains its three-run deficit or is it more significant that a specific player, like Oviedo, be the one that gets the job done?
MORE FROM THIS GAME
• It wouldn’t take much for Cahill to improve on his Pirates’ debut. But the 33-year-old truly flipped the script in his second start with the club. Cahill struck out eight over five innings and yielded just one run.
“We knew he was going to have to mix and match, and he did it,” Shelton said. “He kind of kept them off balance.... I thought he did a really nice job mixing and matching. And then he was executing pitches.”
It was a massive improvement on his first start of the season against the Reds a week ago and enough to lower his ERA by more than seven runs to 8.00.
“We had talked about in his previous start that the breaking balls had been short and kind of non-competitive, and tonight he was extremely competitive and did a nice job," Shelton said.
Cahill used five different pitches almost evenly but wasn’t very economical with his pitch count. He missed the strike zone on 49 of 82 pitches and worked predominantly out of the zone with his changeup -- 11 of 17 pitches were balls. Cahill got whiffs on seven of 11 swings at his cutter.
“I feel like you’re never really satisfied but I think I’m definitely getting to where I’m being comfortable out there,” Cahill said. “It seems like a regular season game form, I guess. It’s hard to explain. Just the whole environment thing, getting comfortable with runners on and all of that, the signs and everything that goes into it. I just felt a lot more comfortable today.”
Shelton mentioned before the game that Cahill and Chad Kuhl -- who each had abbreviated springs for different reasons -- hadn’t had their pitch counts fully stretched out by the start of the season. Already 10 games into 2021, the Pirates are still looking for a starter to work beyond the sixth inning. Cahill showed he’s ready to get his pitch count to a decent height and be effective, but he’ll have to … to go deeper into games.
• If it’s not already obvious that Phillip Evans’ bat should be in the lineup every day, he added to his case Monday. Evans had a pair of hits in four at-bats, including an RBI double, to improve to .406 on the season. His 1.207 OPS ranks eighth in the majors and second in the National League behind Ronald Acuna Jr..
Evans usurped Gregory Polanco’s position in right field, well, just for one night, and proved capable of handling the territory defensively. Polanco struck out on three pitches as a pinch hitter in the fifth.
• Wilmer Difo is another player who is making a case to begin his days in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future. Difo, who homered as a pinch hitter in Sunday’s win against the Cubs, delivered a pinch-hit triple in the eighth on Monday. He later scored on Adam Frazier’s sacrifice fly, which was tracked down by Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth in foul ground in right. Difo is batting .417 but he’s been limited to 12 at-bats this season. He’s been unable to break into the lineup ahead of Erik Gonzalez, who is batting .167 and went 1-for-4 with an infield single and two strikeouts from the No. 5 spot in the order Monday.
• Rich Rodriguez allowed a hit for the first time all season during an otherwise quiet ninth inning. Rodriguez has made four appearances, accounting for 3.1 scoreless innings and four strikeouts thus far. Michael Feliz cleaned up Oviedo’s mess in the seventh with a strikeout of Pham, then worked around a base hit in a scoreless eighth. He’s allowed two earned runs in 4.2 innings this season.
• Jacob Stallings and Frazier each had a hit against Padres’ starter Yu Darvish, who allowed just one run on three hits and a walk in seven innings. Stallings roped a double for the second consecutive game, and Frazier also chipped in a run in addition to the RBI.
THE ESSENTIALS
Box score
Video Highlights
Scoreboard
Standings
Statistics
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
Adam Frazier, 2B
Phillip Evans, RF
Bryan Reynolds, LF
Colin Moran, 1B
Erik Gonzalez, 3B
Jacob Stallings, C
Dustin Fowler, CF
Kevin Newman, SS
Trevor Cahill, P
And for Jayce Tingler's Padres:
Jake Cronenworth, 2B
Jurickson Profar, LF
Manny Machado, 3B
Eric Hosmer, 1B
Wil Myers, RF
Tommy Pham, CF
Victor Caratini, C
Kim Ha-Seong, SS
Yu Darvish, P
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates continue the four-game series with the Padres at PNC Park on Monday. Chad Kuhl (0-1, 6.43 ERA) is in line to start against Blake Snell (0-0, 1.86 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
THE CONTENT
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