ST. LOUIS -- One of the best ways to ease the burden on a beleaguered bullpen is to get just a little bit more out of the starting rotation. Braxton Ashcraft is well on his way to holding up his end of that bargain, backing a steady Pittsburgh offense to a 6-2 series-clinching victory on Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Ashcraft completed seven strong innings, piling up nine strikeouts while allowing only four hits and two walks. It was the third start in his last four in which he got through the seventh; the outlier, on May 15, saw him come up just one out short. In May (four starts), he is 2-0 with a 2.11 ERA.
The scoring started early for the Pirates and maintained a steady pace throughout the day. In the first inning, a tailing fly ball hit into the left-field corner by Brandon Lowe against Cardinals starter Dustin May caught the right gust of wind to stay just barely fair, and José Fermín’s leaping attempt did little more than harmlessly deflect the ball over the wall then back toward the left-center gap. That left Lowe to race around for his 13th homer on the season. Despite Lowe's sprint, the drive was officially ruled a regular home run, of the non-inside-the-park variety.
It traveled 342 feet, projected by Statcast, into a corner that’s marked at 336 feet to the wall. With the wind blowing at eight mph from left to right to start the game, there was evidently just enough push to counteract the tailing action off the bat and hold the ball inside the line long enough for the Pirates to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
Henry Davis added his third homer of the year for the Bucs in the seventh, and Konnor Griffin scored twice in his follow-up to Wednesday’s three-run game. Marcell Ozuna drove a two-run single up the middle against May in the sixth to put some padding on the lead; May would leave the game after facing only one more hitter.