Pirates leave bases loaded in 8th, lose series to Rangers
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Johan Oviedo was immaculate in the fourth inning and anything but in the first, when he surrendered a leadoff home run and gave up three runs to the Texas Rangers.
It proved to be a deficit the Pittsburgh Pirates couldn’t overcome.
The Pirates had their chances late in the game, as Rangers closer Will Smith left the bases loaded in the eighth inning to preserve a 3-2 win Wednesday afternoon before 18,347 at PNC Park.
Oviedo has allowed 14 of his 28 earned runs in the first inning this season, giving up at least one run in the opening frame in five of his 10 starts. Oviedo admitted he needs to make an adjustment to his early attack plan.
“I feel like every team’s been watching that I’m throwing more heaters in the first inning, so they’ve been aggressive against me in the first inning,” said Oviedo, who threw more sliders (43) than four-seamers (29) against the Rangers. “I feel like that’s where they all have been scoring, the first inning. They were swinging earlier in the count, so I started pitching backwards, more spin first and then fastballs.”
The AL West-leading Rangers (31-17) took two of three games from the Pirates (25-24), who have lost seven straight series as they head for a six-game road trip that begins Friday in Seattle and finishes with three games at the San Francisco Giants.
Marcus Semien sent Oviedo’s second pitch, a belt-high fastball, 372 feet to left field for his eighth home run, his second leadoff homer of the season and 16th of his career. Josh Jung doubled to score Nathaniel Lowe for a 2-0 lead, and Jonah Heim reached on a fielder’s choice to first that scored Adolis Garcia to give the Rangers a 3-0 edge.
After giving up three runs on four hits against the first six batters, Oviedo (3-4) allowed only two hits and two walks over the next four-plus innings.
“You’re talking about the best offense in baseball, and they attacked him early, then he settled down and had a better pitch mix,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Oviedo. “He left the pitch up to Semien, and then we had the ball we didn’t get out of our glove. So if not, we get an out there. Thought he settled down and was really good after that, and I thought our pitching was outstanding.”
The Pirates answered with two runs in the second. Carlos Santana walked, and Connor Joe and Rodolfo Castro hit back-to-back singles to load the bases for Jack Suwinski, whose groundout to first scored Santana to cut it to 3-1. Jason Delay singled to left to score Joe to make it 3-2, but Castro got the stop sign from third-base coach Mike Rabelo and was stranded when Chris Owings grounded into a double play.
“I trust Rabs. He’s one of the best third-base coaches in baseball,” Shelton said. “He made a solid read on it. We have to execute. That’s not the reason the game ended up like it did. We had multiple other opportunities to execute. We did not.”
Oviedo settled down, retiring 14 conseuctive batters, including an immaculate inning by striking out Jonah Heim and Robbie Grossman swinging and Josh H. Smith looking on nine pitches in the fourth.
It marked the second immaculate inning by a Pirates pitcher this month, as Colin Holderman completed one May 4 at Tampa Bay, and the fourth by a Pirates pitcher since data started to be tracked in 2000. Juan Nicaso did so July 4, 2016, at St. Louis and Ross Ohlendorf on Sept. 5, 2009, against the Cardinals at PNC Park.
“It’s amazing,” Oviedo said. “It’s also great that one of my teammates did it first. Now I did it. It’s exciting. It’s really hard to do that in baseball, so I’m excited about that.”
Oviedo walked Corey Seager, then gave up a double to Lowe to put runners on second and third with two outs in the fifth but got Garcia to ground out to second to escape unscathed.
A double error put Oviedo in another precarious position in the sixth. After a leadoff single by Jung, Heim hit a slow roller that went through Santana’s legs at first. Second baseman Castro got a glove on the ball but overran it, allowing Jung to go from first to third. Smith hit a high fly ball to Joe in right, but instead of it serving as a sacrifice fly, Jung held up on Joe’s throw to the plate.
When Oviedo walked Leody Taveras, the Pirates turned to righty reliever Robert Stephenson, who threw three consecutive sliders and got Semien looking at a called third strike to leave the bases loaded.
Rangers starter Martin Perez (6-1) allowed two runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts in seven innings before giving way to righty Jose Leclerc. Ke’Bryan Hayes ripped a single up the middle. Taveras couldn’t catch Santana’s bloop to shallow center. Joe drew a walk to load the bases with one out for the switch-hitting Castro.
The Rangers turned to the lefty Smith, who got Castro to fly out to left and hold Hayes at third, then got Suwinski swinging to end the scoring chance. Smith pitched a clean ninth for his ninth save.
The Pirates went 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.
Shelton said it came down to execution of pitches, especially in the first.
“We just have to be a little more fine with our pitch selection and kind of go from there,” Shelton said. “It’s hard to pitch with your back against the wall. We just need to look at what the execution is early.”
Source: TribLIVE
