The Pirates took an early 5-1 lead in the nation’s capital on the Fourth of July and didn’t look back and they cruised to a 7-1 victory to move back to .500. Braxton Ashcraft improved to 9-3 this season with one run allowed and seven strikeouts over 5.2 innings and the bullpen posted 3.1 scoreless frames to keep this Nationals offense at bay. The Pirates had 11 hits, but they were all singles in the win. DiNardo and Doug recap this one on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti Bros. You can watch/listen here:

Here’s my 3 takeaways from this win…

Braxton Ashcraft has been the Pirates Only Reliable Starter All Season

The Pirates rotation was looking to be the strength of the team heading into spring training and the season. The Pirates had the reigning Cy Young winner, they had steady ol’ Mitch Keller and they had a couple young pitchers looking to break out this season. Instead, the rotation hasn’t been very good…except for Braxton Ashcraft. He’s been by far their most reliable and steady pitcher this season which has been a bit of a surprise. Win/loss records for a pitcher is whatever, but Braxton is now 9-3 after limiting a very good Nationals lineup to one run in 5.2 innings with seven strikeouts and his ERA is down to 3.24. He’s made 18 starts now and he only went less than five innings once this season. And he’s gone six or more innings 12 times, including a stretch of six starts across May where he went at least six innings of more in every start. And with Saturday’s start, he’s allowed two runs or more in 13-out-of-18 starts. He’s been the guy to steady things for this rotation. Not Paul Skenes, not Mitch Keller, not Bubba Chandler, but it’s Braxton Ashcraft.

While the Pirates can’t win a Skenes start to save their lives, they’ve won the past four of Ashcraft’s starts and are now 12-6 when he takes the mound. It’s great the season he’s having, you just wish we could have the normal Keller and Skenes to pair with him. If that were the case, the Pirates would be well over .500 but here we are.

Pirates Took Care of Business

The Pirates were a fairly sizable favorite in this game with the Ashcraft vs opener/Zack Littell pitching matchup and they did what they were supposed to do and won the game easily. The Pirates attacked early and scored four runs off of the opener Carson Palmquist and scored one off of Littell.

They let Littell get settled in and went into a shell for part of the game, but then added two more insurance runs off of the Nats bullpen. Meanwhile Ashcraft and the bullpen limited the Nats lineup to one run and made for an easy Fourth of July. This was a game the Pirates were supposed to win and credit to them for getting the job done. They move back to .500 with a 45-45 record now. Since dropping back to .500 on June 14, this team has now gone one game below .500 and immediately back to .500 six different times in less than a month. They played above .500 for most of April and May and now keep sling slotting back and forth.

They’ve done a good job of not burying themselves to date at least. I guess you keep spinning your tires until maybe you can get hot and rip off a big winning streak.

The Pirates Offense Can Beat You Multiple Ways

The Bucs cruised to a 7-1 win in this one and they didn’t need one extra-base hit to do it. The lineup banged out 11 hits and all of them were singles. We know about the Pirates power…they’re tied for 8th in MLB in home runs. But even on a game like today, they didn’t have the power and still rolled. The Pirates clogged up the basepaths again in this game and got them home.

Even in the 1st inning, they didn’t need much. Konnor Griffin led off the game with a single and stole second base. Bryan Reynolds singled and Griffin moved up to third. After a strikeout, the Pirates pulled off a double steal as Reynolds went to second and Griffin took off for home with a steal of home to make it 1-0. Singles and some speed is one way this Pirates team can beat you.

Then in the 2nd inning, the Pirates loaded the bases with a Nick Gonzales single, Jake Mangum was hit by the pitch and Tyler Callihan singled to load em up. Littell relieved Palmquist and Henry Davis reached on an infield single where everyone was safe and a run scored then Brandon Lowe delivered a two-RBI single and Esmerlyn Valdez singled to make it 5-1.

In the 8th inning, they added on thanks to a Reynolds single then Ryan O’Hearn singled. Nicky G came up with his second hit of the game with an RBI single and then Callihan walked and Davis drew a bases loaded walk to make it 7-1. The last time the Pirates scored 7 or more runs on 10+ hits that were all single was May 31, 2019 in a 9-4 win over the Brewers. Then in 2003 and then it hasn’t happened since 1969 and they lost the game in ’69.

The Pirates took care of business Saturday and this lineup can beat teams in a bunch of different ways.