Blue Jays shut out Pirates, who clinch 4th consecutive losing season

It wasn’t quite a backyard brawl – even though a West Virginia product was pitching against the Pittsburgh Pirates – but the cheers and sing-son chants of boisterous Toronto Blue Jays fans drowned out their counterparts and only made the result harder to swallow.

Behind 7 1/3 shutout innings by right-hander Alek Manoah, a two-run double by Santiago Espinal and a two-run homer by Bo Bichette, the Blue Jays cruised to a 4-0 win Friday night before 18,057 at PNC Park.

It was the Pirates’ 14th shutout loss this season but the defeat had a more dubious distinction. It clinched the fourth consecutive losing season – and sixth in seven years – for the Pirates (49-82), who are 10-28 since the All-Star break, have lost 10 of their past 12 and remain on pace to lose 100-plus games for the second straight year.

“I think what we’re doing to do daily is just work on trying to get better,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We’re not looking at milestones in that regard. We’re just trying to focus on getting better.”

The Pirates debut of Johan Oviedo was a bit of a bright spot, as the 6-foot-5, 245-pound right-hander acquired from St. Louis in the Jose Quintana trade tossed three scoreless innings in his first start after being promoted Thursday from Triple-A Indianapolis.

Oviedo was impressive in striking out Blue Jays All-Stars George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez in succession on 22 pitches (15 strikes) in the first inning. Oviedo, whose four-seam fastball touched 98 mph, got Springer and Guerrero swinging at curveballs, Hernandez on a slider.

“It was fun. I really enjoyed it,” Oviedo said. “It was three really good ABs with those guys. Trying to get ahead and try to get some outs.”

The 6-foot-6, 285-pound Manoah allowed five hits and one walk while striking out six on 98 pitches. Manoah showed from the start that he would be more efficient than Oviedo, retiring the Pirates on half the pitches, getting Oneil Cruz to fly out to right and Rodolfo Castro and Bryan Reynolds to go down looking at called third strikes.

With two outs in the second, Oviedo threw 11 consecutive pitches for balls. With runners on first and second after walking Matt Chapman and Cavan Biggio, Oviedo had a 3-0 count against Espinal before getting a groundout to third.

Jack Suwinski led off the bottom of the second with a single off the Clemente Wall, and Cal Mitchell drew a one-out walk to put runners on first and second for the Pirates. Manoah escaped by getting both Michael Chavis and Tucupita Marcano to fly out to left.

Oviedo got into trouble with two outs again in the third, when Guerrero and Hernandez hit back-to-back singles and Alejandro Kirk walked to load the bases. Oviedo got Bichette to fly out to left.

“I was going a little bit deep in the count with pretty much every hitter,” Oviedo said. “It was not because I was getting a little bit behind. It was just because I was having a lot of foul balls.”

By then, however, Oviedo had thrown 77 pitches (46 for strikes) while giving up two hits and three walks with four strikeouts through three innings. Shelton said there wasn’t a pitch limit but that the Pirates would be “mindful based on what he’s done previously.” In his last start at Triple-A Indianapolis, Oviedo threw 63 pitches in 3 2/3 innings. In his only start at St. Louis, he threw 103 pitches in five innings.

“Overall, impressed with the stuff,” Shelton said. “We just need to make sure we condense the pitches. Just too many pitches per plate appearance.”

Tyler Beede, by comparison, threw 47 pitches over three innings. Beede replaced Oviedo for the fourth and promptly gave up a double down the third base line to Chapman and a single up the middle to Biggio. Espinal doubled to left to score both for a 2-0 Blue Jays lead. With runners on second and third, Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz made a backhand stop in the hole and threw across the diamond to get Hernandez out at first.

Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes was removed from the game in the fifth inning with left shoulder discomfort after making a diving attempt at the Chapman grounder. Hayes was being evaluated and is considered day to day.

“He did a dive and then his next at-bat, the ball he grounded to first, he just didn’t look right,” Shelton said. “Watching him between innings, you could tell he was favoring it a little bit. Decided to get him out.”

Manoah gave up one walk and two hits through the first six innings. He got a break one of the hits when Tyler Heineman doubled to lead off the third but was thrown out trying to advance on a wild pitch.

Manoah retired the next 12 batters, including the side on four pitches in the fifth, and didn’t reach 77 pitches until the first out of the seventh. Singles by Jack Suwinski and Cal Mitchell put runners on first and third with two outs but Michael Chavis couldn’t beat a grounder to third.

Shelton was impressed with Manoah (13-7, 2.48 ERA).

“This is a guy that really commands the baseball,” Shelton said of Manoah, whose four-seam fastball, slider and sinker combined for 25 called strikes and whiffs. “If you watch, he has three pitches that he throws to all quadrants of the plate. And when you have that kind of command, it kind of shows why he’s second or third in ERA. Just really effective. He’s efficient because he throws the ball where he wants to.”

The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the eighth, when Bichette hit a leadoff double and Chapman and Espinal drew walks but Chase De Jong got Jackie Bradley swinging at a full-count fastball and George Springer to fly out to left to escape unscathed.

Manoah got Marcano to strike out looking to start the eighth but was pulled after Heineman singled in favor of lefty Tim Mayza, who got Cruz swinging at a slider and Castro at a sinker.

After Yohan Ramirez walked Kirk with two outs, Bichette drilled his next pitch 405 feet to left field for his 18th home run and a 4-0 Blue Jays lead that clinched another losing season for the Pirates.