The Pirates snapped their three-game skid with Braxton Ashcraft going the distance with a complete game near shutout in a blowout 13-1 Pirates victory. Ashcraft struck out 10 and allowed just one run on three hits. Meanwhile, the Pirates offense broke out in a big way with 13 runs on 16 hits including four home runs. Cody and Doug break down the win on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti Bros. You can watch/listen here:
Here’s my 3 takeaways from this one…
Ashcraft Goes the Distance
If there was any doubt who the ace this season was on this team, that ended Thursday afternoon in Miami. Braxton Ashcraft put together a shove fest and was as efficient as I’ve seen a pitcher maybe in my lifetime. He had 50 pitches through 5 and then 56 through 6. He finished the game all nine innings which is unheard of these days with just 85 pitches. That’s incredibly efficient. Oh and he still struck out 10 Marlins! That’s incredible. And as Alex Stump noted, it was historic:
Unreal. Braxton was unreal in this game. He faced the minimum through eight innings. He had given up two hits to that point with one walk and another batter reached due to an error, but all four baserunners were eliminated off of the basepaths by three double plays and a caught stealing…Rafael Flores first runner he threw out in his career. We know that Paul Skenes has struggled this season. Ashcraft is the most consistent pitcher this season and he showed why in this complete game. He was either getting outs on a couple pitches or striking others out. He would get ahead with the fastball and then slow the batters down with that sick curveball and the Marlins struck out a couple times on that pitch. They had no shot against him in this game.
This was the Pirates first complete game of the year and first since Skenes threw one last season. He flirted with a CGSO and a Maddux (CGSO under 100 pitches), but Owen Cassie led off the bottom of the 9th with a solo home run to spoil the fun. Even with the home run, it didn’t take away anything for me with how dominant Ashcraft was. He had been scuffling a bit before this start, he’s already long past his career innings max that he’s thrown and yet he still comes into Miami and shoves against them.
Pretty cool what Braxton did in this game history wise. This season has obviously gone down hill. The playoffs aren’t happening and the pitching has been a mess for a lot of the season. But this game was a reprieve from all that. This was probably the most fun I had watching a game all season because it was great drama watching Ashcraft dominate and see if he could pull off the Maddux. This is Ashcraft’s seasoning year in the Majors for me. It’s his first full season and he’s been a revelation for this team. I can’t wait to see what he grows into for next season.
Offense Showed Up for a Game and Not Who You’d Think
It was a weird game for the offense, but they showed up and in a big way. The Bucs scored in bunches in this game. The last five runs were off of a position player, but before that the Pirates put up eight runs on two home runs and it came from players who wouldn’t really expect. The bottom of the Pirates order (7-9 hitters) went 8-for-13 with 10 RBIs and eight runs. Just an absurd game from Jake Mangum, Jared Triolo and Rafael Flores. Flores hit TWO three-run home runs (one off of that position player), Triolo got a home run with an assist from the center fielder and Mangum had a triple, double, single and an RBI from a hit-by-pitch. He also scored on a balk. It was a weird game, folks. Esmerlyn Valdez had a couple hits which was nice to see that maybe he’s coming out of his ice cold slump. It was nice to see the offense break out in some way, but it really means nothing if they just go back into the cold spell Friday. They need to be more consistent and produce in more than one game a week for this team. Here’s Triolo’s hilarious home run too…Jakob Marsee‘s reaction was great.
Season is Still Over
My apologies for being a wet blanket here, but just because they had a nice 13-1 blowout win to avoid a sweep, they still lost their 7th consecutive series. This doesn’t change anything for me. And it showed while I was watching this game when watching Ashcraft shove, my first thought was “Wow, I can’t wait to see what him and Bubba can do next season.” It’s all looking forward to next season already for me. Sure they’re not mathematically eliminated yet and any team could go on a long winning streak, but what have we learned from this team all season? They have shown us time and time again that they’re too inconsistent and have too many holes to go on a prolonged winning streak. Oh yeah and Skenes is still pitching like a mid pitcher right now. Obviously I’m looking for the team to still finish strong, but I’m looking forward to watch some of these young guns will do next season. And I better not see any of these “if the Pirates just go 30-9 the rest of the way…” tweets on X. You’ve all been warned!
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