Bats wake up and Oviedo looks strong

Home run day for Reynolds and Hayes

BRADENTON, Fla. — Several Pirates seemingly got their groove back Saturday in a 3-0 victory against the New York Yankees at LECOM Park, including a pitcher fighting for a spot in the starting rotation and two middle-of-the-order bats who had their own issues.

Johan Oviedo threw three scoreless innings in his best performance of the spring. Meanwhile,Ke’Bryan Hayes proved he’s healthy while flashing a new-and-improved swing. Bryan Reynolds snapped out of his preseason funk. Both hit homers.

“Really good swings out of both of those guys,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Definitely positive.”

After allowing 27 runs in their past three games, the Pirates got much better pitching in this one. Jose andHernandez, Colin Holderman and Carmen Mlodzinski followed Oviedo, and one looked better than the next.

Hernandez averaged 97 mph with his sinker and retired the side on nine pitches, striking out two. Holderman’s new slider looked sharp, and he averaged 98.1 mph with his sinker, an uptick of around 2 mph over where he sat last year. Mlodzinski, who will start at Triple-A, is up to 5 1/ 3 scoreless innings over his first four appearances.

Overall, the Pirates did an excellent job of what has been a big push from the coaching staff: filling up the strike zone and challenging hitters. They didn’t walk a hitter until Wei-Chieh Huang issued a free pass in the eighth inning. Pirates pitchers more than offset the walk total with 13 strikeouts.

Hayes didn’t miss with his home run.

“I was just hunting for the ball up,” Hayes said. “I was just able to get a good swing on it.”

The swing was an encouraging one for Hayes. Not only because he was seemingly able to stave off any serious issues with his thumb — he said he began to feel something earlier in the week and began to ease off for fear of making it worse — but also the fact that he pulled the ball.

Hayes denied there being much behind it. It’s more his bat path, driving his back hip and seeing the ball well. But whatever you want to

call it, the Pirates undoubtedly need more of it from Hayes.

“When we see Ke’ on time, that’s what he does,” Shelton said.

On the mound

It had been a rough start to spring training for Oviedo, who allowed five earned runs and four walks through his first 4 1/3 innings. What happened Saturday, though, was much different.

Oviedo scrapped the sinker with which he has been tinkering and threw 61% sliders. The combination worked. He allowed two hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Of the 41 pitches Oviedo threw, 31 were strikes.

“Definitely keep working on getting ahead,” Oviedo said. “Today we mixed fastballs, sliders and curveballs. Just try to keep working and doing what we’ve been doing.”

For Oviedo, a big part of that has been thinking less and trusting his stuff — two things he did against the Yankees.

At the plate

Hayes’ left thumb looked just fine on the swing he took, as his two-run homer handed the Pirates a 2-0 lead. The third baseman had been slowed by some minor soreness, and this was only his fifth Grapefruit League game.

But against Yankees starter Ryan Weber, Hayes found an 0-1 changeup out over the plate and pulled it at 106 mph for a no-doubter.

Reynolds, who began Saturday’s game hitting .067, went back-to-back with Hayes, delivering his loudest swing of the spring on an 0-1 changeup from Weber that was near the bottom of the zone. He cranked it 405 feet at 101.5 mph.

Up next

Mitch Keller will make his fourth start of the spring Sunday at home against the Braves. The Pirates enjoy their first off day of the spring on Monday.