The Latest Breaking News from Johan Oviedo

DENVER — Austin Hedges and Canaan Smith-Njigba sat at a table, surrounded by teammates while playing an intense game of Connect Four prior to the first game of this series.

ST. LOUIS — After 14 consecutive innings of bad luck and offensive futility, the Cardinals manufactured a lone run in the sixth inning behind the hitting of Nolan Arenado and Nolan Gorman on Friday night.

PITTSBURGH — Johan Oviedo was absolutely dominant for large chunks of Sunday’s series-deciding game against the Chicago White Sox, yet his performance isn’t the biggest talking point from this one. The same for the Pirates taking a second consecutive series during a better-than-anticipated start to the season.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A noticeable storyline of spring training thus far has been the decent amount of competency found in the Pirates' starting rotation.

PITTSBURGH — Prior to Wednesday’s season finale, which turned out to be a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Pirates manager Derek Shelton admitted that he gets frustrated too, sometimes.

PITTSBURGH — Seemingly stranded in the desert while mired in one of the longest losing stretches of the season, the Pirates found some water Saturday in the form of future pieces, young players they surely hope will be part of an eventual rebound.

NEW YORK — Jacob deGrom did what you would expect him to do against the Pirates on Sunday: He deGrominated.

CINCINNATI — When the Pirates acquired Johan Oviedo as part of the Jose Quintana-Chris Stratton trade, there was an acknowledged need to be patient. General manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton also told anyone who asked about the gigantic right-hander that they viewed him as a capable major league…

PITTSBURGH — Friday’s game featured plenty of what the Pirates have seen this season: an inability to generate offense. The hope for the rest of the season and into 2023 should be focused more on the brief glimpses they saw against the Blue Jays at PNC Park.

The Pirates traded the veteran left-hander to the Cardinals in exchange for reliever Johan Oviedo and corner infield prospect Malcolm Nunez. Pittsburgh also sent right-handed reliever Chris Stratton to St. Louis.

ATLANTA — The engine trouble the Cardinals have had generating offense thus far in this series would be more glaring with its stalls and misfires if not for the fact they won’t be going all that far with the deflated tires of a rotation growing threadbare.