Call it a Texas three-step.
Looking to complete a sweep and win five of seven on their homestand, the Pirates relied on three players with Texas ties during a 9-3 victory over the Twins at PNC Park, with Braxton Ashcraft, Ryan O’Hearn and Nick Gonzales combining for a breezy win.
Ashcraft, the Robinson native who’s been pitching at an All-Star level, delivered six innings of two-run ball and struck out a season-high 11.
O’Hearn, who spent part of his childhood near Arlington, played in his first game in 15 days and needed a grand total of five pitches to hit a home run.
Lastly, Nick Gonzales had the second-longest home run drought in Major League Baseball (412 plate appearances) before drilling a ball 407 feet to center. Gonzales spends his offseasons close to Fort Worth.
“This series was great,” O’Hearn said. “The big, walkoff win on Friday kind of built that momentum for us. The last two days have been awesome. I’ve said it all year long. I think we have a really good team.”
He’s not wrong. And it seems like the Pirates (32-28) might be heating up as they head back to … you guessed it, Texas. Three games against the Astros at Daikin Park in Houston await.
Ashcraft won’t pitch in any of those, but he did play a starring role in the Lone Star State back on April 22, when the right-hander delivered seven stellar innings and allowed just two runs to the Rangers at Globe Life Field.
Since that outing, Ashcraft has gone from cute story to one of the best pitchers in MLB.
In six May starts, Ashcraft went 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA, walking five and striking out 42 over 40 2/3 innings. His WHIP: 0.93.
Ashcraft bemoaned his lack of curveball command after the first inning Sunday, but it obviously didn’t matter. The Twins had just one runner reach second base through five innings, while Ashcraft racked up 24 total whiffs.
That’s the most for a Pirates pitcher in at least two years.
“He’s been elite this year,” O’Hearn said of Ashcraft. “Really happy for him, proud of him. You see the stuff. He’s really good. Need him to keep doing what he’s doing.”
The craziest part of Ashcraft’s outing — his eighth this season of six or more innings and two or fewer earned runs allowed — is that his ERA actually rose from 2.75 to 2.77.
This one included a pitch count of 80, 60 that Ashcraft threw for strikes. Nobody in baseball has thrown a higher percentage of strikes than Ashcraft (69.2%, 731 of 1,057).
“That’s kind of my M.O.: staying in the zone and suffocating the zone with strikes,” Ashcraft said. “I put a lot of trust in Henry [Davis], Endy [Rodriguez] or whoever’s back there.
“I understand what’s going on with hitters, and it allows me to turn my brain off and focus on the task at hand. That’s throwing strikes and getting guys in the zone.”
O’Hearn has authored his own incredible story. When he initially suffered a right quad strain, the timeline was four weeks. But it only took a few days before O’Hearn — the pain gone — began trying to push the pace.
O’Hearn was only ever on the COVID IL and wasn’t exactly a fan of watching games in which he could not participate.
“You want to be out there,” O’Hearn said. “The competitor in you is champing at the bit in the dugout.”
Once he got cleared to swing and run, O’Hearn did everything he could to get back as quickly as possible, including a GPS tracking vest that he joked looked like a sports bra. Didn’t matter.
O’Hearn needed to play and made up for lost time in a hurry, clubbing a low-and-away slider to right in the second.
“You want to make an impact when you come back,” O’Hearn said. “I didn’t do a rehab assignment or anything, so I hadn’t seen live pitching. But I was pretty confident in my abilities.
“Been feeling good in the cage. It was cool to have it translate the first at-bat like that.”
A two-hit game increased O’Hearn’s average to .294. His OPS sits at .850, with eight home runs and six doubles. The left-handed-hitter is a fixture in the middle of the Pirates lineup, which exploded for 45 runs over seven games.
It’s pretty obvious to say that the Pirates — fifth in runs (301) and team OPS (.733) — are a better team with O’Hearn in the lineup.
“You’re gonna go through tough stretches,” O’Hearn said. “That’s just the nature of the game. Seems like when we lose a few, we tend to bounce back. Now, the challenge is we’ve won a few. We have to keep that gas pedal down.”
While the homer came quick for O’Hearn, Gonzales had to wait.
And wait and wait.
The Pirates third baseman has had an outstanding year, hitting .303 prior to Sunday and stabilizing a position that was an offensive wasteland in 2025. He did that by changing his swing path and contact point, becoming more of a contact guy and focusing less on homers.
Still, Gonzales has hit plenty of balls hard that either died at the wall or were swallowed up by the wind.
Not this one. Gonzales found a hanging slider and obliterated it, exhaling and looking up to the heavens in appreciation for the dry spell ending.
“It's been a while,” Gonzales said. “For the last, I don't know how many years, I've hit a home run in the first game or two of the season.
“Felt good to kind of just get that weight off my shoulder and just help the team too and score two runs. It's nice.”
Final thoughts
• Covered the Carmen Mlodzinski situation in a separate piece. The drama should end in Houston. Cam Sanders was optioned to Triple-A postgame, and Mlodzinski had a bag packed in the Pirates clubhouse. Said Pirates manager Don Kelly of Mlodzinski in his postgame session: "We'll see him soon."
Coupled with how general manager Ben Cherington talked about the conversations between Mlodzinski and the team, things seem to be in a better place.
• Interesting to see how Marcell Ozuna's usage has changed. He has sat for the past four games. Maybe it's a reset. The Pirates certainly have more productive options. Something to monitor.
• You know how Ashcraft bemoaned his curveball on Sunday? It accounted for nine of his 24 whiffs. Probably being a little hard on himself.
• Spencer Horwitz went one for five with a double and finished the month hitting .333 with a .986 OPS. The average is tied for fifth in MLB, while Horwitz produced the eighth-best OPS. He also walked (14) more than he struck out (9).
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.