NEW YORK – Pirates right-hander Braxton Ashcraft made his first start after the All-Star break on Monday night, and he showed concern about his performance after the Yankees won the game, 8-5, at Yankee Stadium.
Ashcraft was hit hard, allowing a career-high eight runs (seven earned) in three innings. Including his last start before the break against the Brewers, Ashcraft has allowed 13 runs (12 earned) in his past eight innings.
Ashcraft held himself accountable for the loss. He didn’t have a good feel for throwing his curveball, slider and sinker against New York.
“I didn’t have much of a feel for anything. I just have to be better there,” Ashcraft said. “We have an extra day through this next turn. Go back to the drawing board, get after it in my [side sessions] and put myself in a better position in the next start. I felt good. My body felt good. I just didn’t execute.”
The way Monday’s game started, it looked like Ashcraft wasn’t going to complete the first inning.
The first run he allowed was caused by sloppy defense. After Ben Rice drew a walk with one out, Paul Goldschmidt hit a grounder to third baseman Nick Gonzales, who bobbled the ball and let it go past him for an error. To make matters worse, left fielder Bryan Reynolds retrieved the ball and made a weak throw that landed in front of him, allowing Rice to score from first.
Before the inning ended, the Pirates were down, 4-0, after Ashcraft allowed a three-run homer to Jazz Chisholm Jr.
However, Ashcraft found himself back in the game when the Pirates rallied and took a 5-4 lead in the top of the third inning. Esmerlyn Valdez put Pittsburgh ahead with a mammoth two-run homer off left-hander Ryan Weathers. It was Valdez’s 13th homer in his first 32 career games, making him the fastest Pirate to reach that total.
Valdez’s homer had an exit velocity of 106.6 mph and traveled a Statcast-projected 436 feet into the right-center-field seats. Yes, the short porch makes it easy to hit bombs, but Valdez’s monster shot would have gone out in any ballpark.
“On that particular at-bat, I reminded myself to stick to the plan and take the swings. That was the result of that homer,” Valdez said through assistant coach Stephen Morales.
With that homer, Valdez joined Hall of Famers Paul Waner (11 in June 1927) and Willie Stargell (eight in June 1971), along with Dale Long (eight in May 1956), as the only players in Pirates history with an extra-base hit and an RBI in eight consecutive games (since RBIs became official in 1920).
“It feels great to be right next to those names,” Valdez said. “It’s a product of my preparation during the offseason. Hopefully, that’s not the only achievement I’m going to do. I’m going to do hopefully more in a Pirates uniform.”
But Ashcraft couldn’t take advantage of the run support that was given him. Chisholm haunted Ashcraft once again with a two-run homer in the third, his second of the night, to give New York a one-run lead. Before the inning ended, José Caballero added two more runs with a double to left field.
Manager Don Kelly said Ashcraft didn’t have good spin on the baseball.
“He threw some good ones, but they didn’t have the depth they normally have,” Kelly said. “He didn’t seem like he was finishing off the breaking balls like he typically does.”