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 over the Cardinals 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 1.91 ERA.
In completing his fifth start of the season of at least 6 2/3 innings pitched, Ashcraft now leads the Majors in number of starts of at least that length.
“In short, that’s our job as starting pitchers,” Ashcraft said. “It’s to take pressure off the bullpen, to give our team a good chance. It’s a strong team, so when you stack quality starts, stack quality outings, I think us as a team in general did a really good job of that. It’s something we talk about amongst ourselves in terms of the importance of doing that, and we take a lot of pride in that.”
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.
“Just a good swing, and I’ll take a home run either way it comes,” said Lowe with only a hint of disappointment.
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.
“You know what? It’s a homer,” manager Don Kelly said. “Really pumped that he finished the play either way. He was going all the way, so there was no doubt it was going to be a home run.”
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.
Wilber Dotel, making his first appearance since Wednesday’s recall from Triple-A, handled the eighth before Mason Montgomery finished off the Cardinals in the ninth.
To need only two relievers to cover two innings is somewhat of a rarity in an era in which workloads and pitch limits for starters are more front of mind than they’ve been at any other time in Major League history. Ashcraft’s ability to carry the mail not only reflects positively on his preparation, but also allows the Bucs to grab breaks for relievers who have been a little shakier in the early going than the impressive starting staff.
“Today, no doubt, he’s the second ace,” Ozuna said. “We’ve got Paul Skenes first, [but] I’ve got him real good. He’s a nice guy and I like the way that he competed.”
“[It does] a lot, especially for the bullpen, being able to save some innings out of the ‘pen,” Kelly added.
Those innings will be needed as the Pirates continue to seek a turnaround and a return to their strong start. After breaking a four-game losing streak in the second game of this series, they’ll instead carry back-to-back wins into Rogers Centre when they meet the Blue Jays in Toronto on Friday night. That momentum -- and a strong showing against a divisional opponent who swept them at home in their first matchup this season -- was made possible in large part by Ashcraft’s ability to navigate deftly into the back third of the game.
“Proud of the guys,” Kelly acknowledged. “We've responded to a lot of different scenarios and adversity early on this season, and we're going to have to continue to do that as the season goes on to get to where we want to get.”