The Pirates struck out nine times against lefty Matthew Liberatore, but were able to hit two home runs off him as well to push five runs across in a 5-4 to take the series over the Cardinals. Esmerlyn Valdez hit his 16th home run of the season to open the scoring in the 2nd inning and Jared Triolo added his third home run in the 5th inning. Braxton Ashcraft went five innings with two runs allowed and the bullpen made it close, but held on for the victory. Jim and Doug recapped this one on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti Bros which you can watch or listen to here…
Here’s my 3 takeaways from this win over the Cardinals…
Two Straight Solid Series Wins
It may be a bit of too little, too late but the Pirates just played two solid series where they defeated the Cardinals and Padres on the road. Both teams are ahead of them in the standings and a road way against the pixie dust Cardinals is always a good thing. In the first series, the Pirates won the first two games and couldn’t complete the sweep and then they lost the first game against the Cardinals and then won the next two. They really need sweeps at this point in the season if they plan on digging themselves out of this house, but on the road taking 2-out-of-3 in a series is something you’ll always take.
And the pitching was pretty solid over these two series. The Padres scored a total of 2, 0 and 3 while the Cardinals scored 4, 2, 4. The only problem has been the offense as of late and they did enough in this game against a lefty to get the job done with four runs off Liberatore (one was thanks to a gift popup but we will take it) and one off the bullpen.
Ashcraft Continues to Cruise
Braxton Ashcraft made his 27th start of the season and went five innings with two runs allowed. He pitched well and his day ended with some unlucky singles with two outs that scored two runs in the 5th inning, but he was lifted after just 71 pitches. It leads me to believe they may start limiting his innings when they can. Ashcraft cruised through four innings with just three singles allowed and then got the first two outs in the 5th inning before giving up single, walk, single, single to allow two runs. Then he came right back and got Jordan Walker to pop up to first base for the third out. The bullpen held the lead and Ashcraft picks up another win to move to 14-5 on the season. He only allowed one extra-base hit and this was his second straight start where he didn’t allow a home run. Out of his 27 starts, he failed to go at least five innings in only two of them. The dude has been so fun to watch and in a single where other starters were struggling for most of the season, it’s been great to see Ashcraft come into his own as a starting pitcher.
With this “ramp up” season out of the way and Braxton likely going to pitch past 170 innings, I can’t wait to see him next season as he continues to get better and where he doesn’t have to worry about any inning limits.
Weaver to Montgomery Will Feed Families Next Year
The Pirates pulled Ashcraft after five innings and went to the bullpen early, but they could get away with it because they just needed to cover two innings before Weaver and Montgomery did their thing. With the Bucs leading 5-4, Weaver fired a scoreless 8th inning with just a single allowed and then Mason Jar came in and shut the Cardinals down 1-2-3 for his 7th save of the season.
Barring a 10-0 run at some point in September, this season is likely cooked but it’s hard not to dream about a Weaver/Montgomery back of the pen for a full season in 2027. Think about it. What we saw Sunday in the win over the Cardinals, is a sneak peek into what games could look like next season. If the Pirates get a lead late, the game is about to become a 7-inning game because Weaver and Montgomery will have it on lock down. One thing I’m definitely looking forward to for next season.
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