Johan Oviedo was sitting at 97 pitches through eighth scoreless innings, and Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton had no intention of sending the 25-year-old right-hander out for the ninth.

Then Pirates rookie catcher Endy Rodriguez stood behind Shelton and pitching coach Oscar Marin in the visitor dugout, repeatedly urging them to give Oviedo a chance to pitch the ninth until Shelton finally relented.

Oviedo recorded a clean ninth for his first career complete game, a two-hit shutout for the Pirates in a 5-0 win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.

“I can’t really describe it, to be honest,” Oviedo said in an on-field interview on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “It’s been a crazy year, so I’m really happy the boys and I could complete this game.”

It was the second consecutive strong outing by Oviedo, who set career-highs with 112 pitches (73 for strikes) in a game and innings pitched (154 ⅓) in a season. He earned his fourth quality start in August by holding the Royals to a pair of singles and two walks, never allowing a baserunner to reach second.

“I just tried to get ahead, not try to think too much,” Oviedo said. “I just tried to execute pitches. This is a really good team, so I tried to keep it simple.”

Actually, the Royals (41-92) own the second-worst record in baseball, just ahead of the Oakland A’s (38-93). That made them the perfect foe for the Pirates (59-73), who had lost three of four to the Chicago Cubs and given up 10 runs in each of their past two games.

Oviedo became the second Pirates pitcher to throw a complete game shutout this season. Mitch Keller tossed a four-hitter over nine innings in a 2-0 win over the Colorado Rockies on May 8. Shelton has allowed only three pitchers to go into ninth in four seasons, with Steven Brault throwing the other complete game in a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 17, 2020.

Oviedo is the fifth Pirates pitcher to allow two hits or fewer in a complete game shutout since PNC Park opened in 2001, joining Todd Ritchie (July 13, 2001), Jeff Karstens (Aug. 6, 2008), A.J. Burnett (July 31, 2012) and Jameson Taillon (April 8, 2018).

“It was awesome,” Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said. “He kept us off the field and on the offensive side for the most part of the game. He attacked. He was able to get ahead early in the count, used all his stuff to kept them off-balance. The thing for me that stood out is he was getting ahead, whereas sometimes he’ll try to be too fine and he’ll fall behind. Tonight, he did a really good job of just attacking and making them hit his stuff. He just looked really good.”

Hayes continued his red-hot month at the plate by going 4 for 4 with an RBI double and a run scored, adding a couple impressive plays at third base for good measure. Hayes noted that Oviedo’s efficiency kept the Pirates on offense, where they had 12 hits, including four doubles.

The Pirates got after 39-year-old Royals right-hander Zack Greinke early, as Ji Hwan Bae and Hayes hit back-to-back singles off the six-time All-Star and 2009 Cy Young Award winner before Andrew McCutchen grounded into a double play. Greinke got Joshua Palacios to ground out to first to leave Bae at third.

Rodriguez led off the second inning with a single to center and the Pirates loaded the bases when Greinke issued back-to-back walks to Jack Suwinski and Liover Peguero. Greinke had only allowed 15 walks in 114⅔ innings over his previous 23 outings. Rodriguez scored for a 1-0 lead when Greinke got Alfonso Rivas to ground into a double play.

The Pirates increased their lead to 2-0 in the third, when Bae hit a leadoff double to left and scored when Hayes doubled down the left field line.

Hayes might have saved an extra-base hit that could have scored a run in the sixth. With MJ Melendez at first base after drawing a one-out walk, Hayes made a terrific backhand stop of Bobby Witt Jr.’s 106-mph grounder down the third base line for a forceout at second. Oviedo struck out Salvador Perez to end the inning.

Shelton said Hayes’ stop shouldn’t go unnoticed.

“That changes the whole course of the game,” Shelton said. “If that ball goes down the line, they’re going to score a run. With the way (Witt) runs, he’s probably going to end up at third and we’re in a whole different situation. (Hayes’) at-bats were really good, but I think the play down the line was the game-changer.”

Rivas went opposite field for a leadoff double to left in the seventh but was thrown out at third when Royals first baseman Matt Beaty made a nice scoop and throw on an Alika Williams bunt.

Hayes followed with his fourth hit, a two-out single to left off lefty Taylor Hearn, and McCutchen drilled a 103.6-mph liner to left to drive in Williams for a 3-0 lead. Palacios beat a dribbler down the first base line, allowing Hayes to score to stretch the lead to 4-0.

Suwinski led off the eighth inning with a broken-bat single to third, then scored on a Rivas double down the left field line for a 5-0 lead. Those extra runs in the later innings eased Shelton’s mind on Oviedo, who faced only six batters in the fourth and fifth innings.

“I think that goes into play,” Shelton said. “The fact that he was efficient. I think he had two innings where he was at 10 pitches. The fact that we extended the score, so there wasn’t a lot of high stress. … There were a lot of factors that went into play in terms of the stress of the innings.”

Oviedo had gone seven innings eight times, including twice earlier this month, but had never past that point in his career. Yet he retired the final 10 batters he faced, completing the eighth on 13 pitches.

“Going into the ninth, I did not plan on pitching him because he was at 97 and I figured that was pretty good,” Shelton said. “Endy Rodriguez made a pretty strong push for him. …

“He stood behind me as Oscar and I were talking about it and kept saying, ‘Let’s go. He’s fine. Let’s go. He’s fine.’ I looked at Oscar and said, ‘All right, let’s go.’”

Shelton sent Oviedo out for the ninth inning, figuring it would be on a batter-by-batter basis. Oviedo got Melendez to pop up to third, Witt to fly out to right and Perez to ground out to third to complete the game.

“This is the first one in my career, so there’s a lot of feelings right now,” Oviedo said. “I’m just really happy, man.”

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