PITTSBURGH – The early innings of Braxton Ashcraft’s Sunday afternoon start against the Reds checked all the boxes necessary for a possible special outing on the mound.
The right-hander was working quickly and in rhythm, getting ahead in counts and commanding his entire arsenal of pitches in Pittsburgh’s 1-0 victory at PNC Park. He went on to deal a career-high 7 2/3 innings, striking out six and allowing just four hits with a pair of walks.
Ashcraft worked around a one-out walk in the first inning. He then needed just eight pitches to pitch a 1-2-3 second inning and nine to do the same in the third. He surrendered his first hit of the game in the fourth inning, a hard-hit, leadoff single by JJ Bleday, yet it ended up being his most efficient frame. He got Elly De La Cruz to flyout and Sal Stewart to ground into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play to end the inning after just four pitches.
In the early innings, his fastball, curve and slider were all a tick up from his season average.
Ashcraft was unable to make it through the fifth inning in his previous outing against St. Louis last week. But after striking out the side in the fifth inning, it was clear his outing was far from over. In the sixth, he worked around a two-out double by TJ Friedl by getting Bleday to line out to second. He then opened his seventh inning with a four-pitch walk to Elly De La Cruz – his first sign of possible fatigue – but got Stewart to ground into a double play on the very next pitch and worked out of the frame after just seven pitches.
He had only thrown 71 pitches through seven innings, with more in the tank.
Ashcraft allowed a leadoff single to Spencer Steer and a one-out double to Jose Treviono to put runners at first and third in the eighth, but Nick Gonzales cut down Steer at the plate on a weak, infield chopper. Gregory Soto entered the game and escaped trouble with a strikeout of Friedl, earning the win after Oneil Cruz singled in the game's only run in the bottom of the inning.
Ashcraft got a standing ovation as he exited the game. The performance was the longest start of his young career, coincidentally just hours after the conclusion of the Pittsburgh Marathon. He threw 82 pitches (56 strikes).
The outing contributed to the Pirates’ first sweep over Cincinnati in over three years, when they swept them in a four-game series from April 20-23 of 2023.