With family watching for 1st time, Johan Oviedo shows out as Pirates shut out Yankees

Johan Oviedo brought his family from Cuba to the United States, so his start for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday was the first time his parents and sister saw him pitch as a professional.

“They came to stay forever. They’ve been apart from me for a long time. I want to keep them close,” Oviedo told Robby Incmikoski in an interview during the AT&T SportsNet telecast. “Hopefully, we can celebrate all the good things that comes.”

Oviedo showed his family how much he wants to stay, too.

The 25-year-old right-hander made a case for a spot in the starting rotation with three strikeouts and two hits allowed in three scoreless innings against the New York Yankees, his best start of spring training.

Then Oviedo got more support with a pair of big swings as the Pirates got back-to-back home runs from Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds for a 3-0 win over the Yankees on Saturday afternoon in a Grapefruit League game at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla.

Oviedo spent part of last season as a reliever with the St. Louis Cardinals before being traded to the Pirates, along with first baseman Malcom Nunez, for lefty starter Jose Quintana and righty reliever Chris Stratton at the deadline.

He went 2-2 with a 3.23 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, 28 strikeouts and 16 walks in seven starts for the Pirates last season, including tying his career high with seven strikeouts in seven scoreless innings in a 6-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 24 at PNC Park.

Despite his bullpen experience, Oviedo is set on staying a starter and battling for a spot in the rotation this spring, even though it’s likely he will begin the season at Triple-A Indianapolis after the Pirates signed veteran free agents in lefty Rich Hill and righty Vince Velasquez.

“I’ve always been a starter my whole life. Being a starter is what I want,” Oviedo told the Tribune-Review earlier this month. “I’m not trying to think about where I’m going to be in the next months but definitely what I want to do, which is compete. I want to go out there and try to do my best.”

Oviedo struck out Estevan Florial in the first inning, former AL MVP Josh Donaldson in the second and Spencer Jones in the third. He helped his cause with an efficient outing, throwing strikes on 31 of his 41 pitches, and was so effective that he threw a bullpen session afterward just to reach his pitch count.

That Oviedo did it with his parents, Lazaro and Judith, and his 18-year-old sister, Jeanine, in attendance only made his performance more meaningful.

“I can’t say how excited and happy I am for them here and supporting me,” Oviedo told AT&T SportsNet. “They’ve always been part of my life and my career. It’s something I can’t describe.”

Hayes, who started at third base after missing a few games with a sore left thumb, hit Ryan Weber’s 0-1 changeup 394 feet to left field for a two-run homer. The switch-hitting Reynolds followed by pulling an 0-1 curve 405 feet to right.

Relievers Jose Hernandez and Colin Holderman both fanned two of the three batters they faced and combined with Carmen Mlodzinski, Dauri Moreta, Wei-Chieh Huang and Cody Bolton to protect the shutout as the Pirates recorded 12 strikeouts and allowed only five hits.

The Yankees’ best scoring chance came in the eighth, when Huang gave up a single to Spencer Henson, walked Nelson Medina and threw a wild pitch that allowed them to advance to second and third. Huang then got Matt Pita to go down looking at a called third strike on a 2-2 curveball and got Luis Santos swinging at an 89 mph four-seamer.

Mitch Keller is expected to start Sunday against lefty Jared Shuster when the Atlanta Braves visit LECOM Park.