FORT MYERS, Fla. — When Alex Cora was asked pregame how he sees the competition for the club’s No. 5 starter job, the Red Sox manager urged patience. It’s still early in camp, he said, and they haven’t reached a point where one bad outing is necessarily going to take anyone out of the running.
Even with that being the case, there’s no question that Johan Oviedo’s first impression could have been better.
Acquired this past fall from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Jhostynxon Garcia trade, Oviedo struggled with his command in his spring debut. The 6-foot-6, 275-pound right-hander walked three batters over 1 2/3 scoreless innings in Wednesday’s game against Minnesota Twins, landing 15 of his 33 pitches for strikes while allowing one hit with one strikeout.
“Not the worst but definitely not the best,” Oviedo said. “Got the first one out but looking at the good things about it. Got ahead just couldn’t finish, got to keep working on the shapes and keep getting better this spring.”
Oviedo quickly ran into trouble in the bottom of the first when he hit Byron Buxton with a pitch and walked Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner to load the bases, but he was able to draw an inning-ending double play from Ryan Jeffers to escape the jam unscathed.
Things got hairy again in the second when he issued a leadoff walk and single, and then after drawing a lineout Oviedo allowed the two men to reach scoring position on a wild pitch.
Oviedo finished his outing by striking out Gio Urshela, and having reached his pitch limit he handed the ball off to minor leaguer Jay Allmer, who preserved his scoreless line by drawing an inning-ending foul out to strand the two runners on base.
Following the outing Oviedo said his goal was to get ahead in the count and work on his breaking pitches, though he acknowledged he wasn’t as sharp as he felt during his last live batting practice.
“Not the greatest, my live was better compared to today,” Oviedo said. “Today I was getting ahead strike one, but after strike one I’d lose it a little bit.”
Oviedo entered camp as the presumed favorite to win the No. 5 job, but he will face stiff competition from top prospects Connelly Early and Payton Tolle, each of whom pitched well in their first spring outings. Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval, who missed all of last season due to injury, entered spring as possible options but are behind the others in their progression and may not be ready in time for Opening Day.
