‘Absolutely money’: Braxton Ashcraft picks up where he left off with another gem

It’s almost like Braxton Ashcraft’s previous start, his complete-game gem, never ended. He just saved his progress, flew home from Miami and resumed the game Tuesday with the Tigers in town.

It sure must have felt like as video game for Rafael Flores Jr., who was once again behind the plate.

Press a button. Pick a location. Pitch arrives. Rinse, wash, repeat. Is this Groundhog Day or something?

After firing 85 pitches to navigate nine and while striking out 10 last Thursday in Miami, Ashcraft came pretty darn close to doing it again during a 4-1 Pirates victory over Detroit at PNC Park — still inducing a boatload of early, weak contact but this time being limited to eight innings and 80 pitches.

Here’s guessing the Pirates will let the step back in performance slide.

“He’s been executing really well,” Flores said. “His last two outings have been absolutely money. As long as we’re on the same game plan and just trying to execute, he’s gonna keep shoving.”

Ashcraft walked none, fanned four, amassed seven whiffs and threw 61 strikes, greeting all but four of the 28 hitters he faced with first-pitch strikes.

Similar to last time, Ashcraft was sinker-heavy in his mix, employing the pitch 30% of the time Tuesday compared to 15% on the season. His curveball was sharp as ever, his four-seam fastball up 1.0 mph, sitting at 98.2.

Ashcraft’s ERA is now 3.68, though he’s enjoyed a Mike Tyson-level punchback in August.

In four July starts, Ashcraft had a 7.78 ERA. He called it “a bad month.” So bad, in fact, that it forced a reassessment of … well, basically everything.

What he was doing between outings. How he was focusing and executing. Basically “just trying to do everything I can to force swing decisions.”

That’s Ashcraft code for throwing more strikes and inducing soft contact, which he’s done exceptionally well in August. In four starts this month, Ashcraft has allowed six earned runs in 27 innings (2.00 ERA), walking three and striking out 24.

He looks much more like his All-Star self.

“It’s about being confident, getting in the zone, making convicted pitches in the zone and finishing pitches in the zone,” said Ashcraft, who also credited Luke Weaver with helping him narrow his pre-pitch focus. “That elicits quick innings, early contact and allows you to go deeper into games.”

After allowing back-to-back singles in the fourth, Ashcraft got catcher Eduardo Valencia to bounce into an inning-ending double play.

Ashcraft also got some ballpark assistance for the first out of that inning, as second baseman Gleyber Torres' 395-foot fly ball to left-center would've been a home run in 21 of 30 MLB parks.

Around that, Oneil Cruz looked solid in center, the Pirates infield was sturdy, and Ashcraft hardly ever missed his spots, working ahead in counts and rarely going deep in them.

The lone mistake Ashcraft made came in the fifth, when he gave up a homer to left fielder Brett Callahan. Ashcraft left an 0-1 heater over the middle, and Callahan put it in the seats in right.

Whatever. Ashcraft pounds the zone, and solo shots happen. Credit to him, he came right back and attacked the next hitter, center fielder Max Clark, getting him to bounce out to first.

“He's a competitor,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “The way he gets after it, he's not gonna back down. He just keeps on going and keeps trying to find different things to work on.”

That work, the evolution, helped Ashcraft win for the eighth time in his last 11 starts, pushing his record to 13-5. Only two National League pitchers have more wins.

Ashcraft also made some absurd history. Among the many feats:

• Ashcraft is the first MLB pitcher to work at least 8.0 innings while averaging 10 or fewer pitches in back-to-back starts since Greg Maddux did it Sept. 7-13, 2000.

• Since 1988 (when pitch counts began being tracked), only three pitchers have had back-to-back starts of eight or more innings, one or zero runs allowed and 85 or fewer pitches: Cincinnati’s Tom Browning in 1989, Detroit’s Shane Greene in 2015 and Ashcraft.

• The last Pirates pitcher to toss a complete game, then go eight or more innings in his next start was A.J. Burnett in 2012.

• Ashcraft came within an inning of becoming the first Pirate with back-to-back complete games since Mark Redman in 2005, and Ashcraft would’ve been the first with consecutive nine-inning complete games since Jason Schmidt in 1997.

Alas, Kelly apparently hates fun. Just kidding.

Really it involved concern over back-to-back longer outings (innings-wise), Ashcraft having already blown past his previous career-high in innings and the Pirates wanting to conserve him.

Mason Montgomery entered in the ninth and easily notched the save.

The offense in this one was provided by Cruz, who returned from a lengthy absence with a prolific homer, as well as Bryan Reynolds and Spencer Horwitz adding RBIs.

Yet … Ashcraft.

After all, this is a guy who’s battled injury troubles in the past, to the point where everyone sort of wondered whether he’d hold up for an entire season.

Forget that. He’s cementing his top-of-the-rotation status, barreling through the dog days of August like he just caught a wide receiver screen, and he’s making pitching look easy.

Work fast, throw strikes and change speeds. Former Pirates pitching coach Ray Miller would love this.

“He’s throwing his stuff, and they’re not hitting it,” Flores said. “We’re just gonna keep throwing the same stuff.

“He’s electric … and he’s been electric. He just has to stay there and stay consistent.”

Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.