PITTSBURGH — The actual game on Tuesday felt like an afterthought for the Pirates.
That may be the case for the next few games, as the trade deadline fast approaches. The Pirates have begun this week on a torrid pace in terms of deal-making, sending second baseman Adam Frazier to the San Diego Padres on Sunday, right-handed reliever Clay Holmes to the New York Yankees on Monday.
It appears that they were on the precipice of trading left-handed starter Tyler Anderson to the Philadelphia Phillies, but that trade stalled for some reason.
Even still, the potential trade caused a ruckus in Pittsburgh. Anderson was meant to start for the Pirates against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday. However, presumably because of the trade talks, he was scratched.
Instead, the Pirates called upon right-hander Luis Oviedo, the 22-year-old pitcher picked up in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft. Entering Tuesday, he had not pitched more than three innings in an outing this season. He had thrown no more than 52 pitches in a game. The Pirates were probably hoping he’d give them a few innings before making it a bullpen game.
A few innings may have been ambitious. In a 9-0 loss, Oviedo pitched just one inning, coming out for the second but failing to record a single out. In the end, he was responsible for eight runs — six of them earned —on five hits, three walks, two strikeouts and a home run allowed.
Perhaps things could have gone better for Oviedo had his defense backed him up a little better. He struck out Brewers second baseman Kolten Wong to start the game, then forced Willy Adames to ground out routinely to shortstop Kevin Newman. Uncharacteristically, Newman booted it, recording just his second error of the season.
That turned out to be costly, as the next batter, Omar Narvaez, ripped a two-run homer to right field to put the Pirates in an early 2-0 deficit. Oviedo allowed another run after two more walks and a single, but was charged with only one earned run in the inning. The second was less defensible, as Oviedo did get anyone out, walking the pitcher, hitting Wong, then giving up two straight singles and a double before exiting for good.
It isn’t as if Oviedo was the lone dark spot, to be fair. The Pirates amassed a total of four hits in their first game without Frazier. Two came from left fielder Ben Gamel and the other two from catcher Jacob Stallings. All of them were singles. The rest of the lineup combined to go 0 for 23 with two walks.
The only real positive for the Pirates came from right-hander Cody Ponce. He was the player added to the Pirates’ roster to replace Holmes, and whether he was supposed to pitch Tuesday or not, he was called into action after Oviedo was so ineffective. Ponce had been struggling mightily this season, but he pulled himself together in the relief effort Tuesday.
In the end, he stopped the bleeding, picking up in the fourth inning and pitching five shutout innings on three hits, one walk and five strikeouts.
Things will probably continue to be strange for the Pirates moving forward. There are still some pieces on their team, including Anderson, who are rumored trade candidates. At the conclusion of Tuesday’s game, there was nobody listed as the Pirates’ starting pitcher Wednesday.
Anderson, after almost being shipped out before the game, made his way back into the Pirates’ dugout to end the night. Right-hander Max Kranick was also in Pittsburgh, ostensibly to replace Anderson in the case of a potential trade. Either one could potentially pitch Wednesday, depending on how things break before the first pitch.
Either way, for a multitude of reasons, the Pirates were in a state of disarray before Tuesday’s game started. Then they lost 9-0.
