After carving through the Seattle Mariners for 10 strikeouts, right-hander Braxton Ashcraft became the first pitcher in Pittsburgh Pirates' history to record multiple walk-free, double-digit strikeout gems in a single season.
PITTSBURGH – Braxton Ashcraft’s first full season in the major leagues is so good that it is becoming historic.
The Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander was outstanding in his team’s 11-1 victory over the American League West-leading Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night in the middle game of a three-game series at PNC Park.
Ashcraft allowed one run and five hits in six innings while striking out 10 and walking none. He helped the Pirates even their record at 40-40 as they reach the midpoint of their season on Thursday afternoon in the rubber game of the three-game series.
Ashcraft is the first Pittsburgh pitcher to have two games with at least 10 strikeouts with no walks in the same season since baseball’s Modern Era began in 1901. On May 31, he had 11 strikeouts without a walk in a win over the Minnesota Twins.
Ashcraft did not look like he was going to have a dominant performance Wednesday night when J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh, and Julio Rodriguez hit consecutive singles to start the game and give the Mariners a 1-0 lead. However, Ashcraft allowed just two more hits and retired the last 10 batters he faced before Carmen Mlodzinski pitched three scoreless innings for his second save.
“I think it starts with first pitch strikes. Just getting ahead, staying there and putting guys away,” Ashcraft said of how he has been able to have two such unique starts this season. “Obviously, the first inning didn’t go the way we wanted it to go. Couple early hits in the count, identified the plan, was able to pitch to it, and carried through the rest of the game.”
The Mariners’ plan was to attack Ashcraft early in the count.
“You’ve got to get him early in the game because you’re not going to get many opportunities against him,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.
Despite the Mariners’ early aggressiveness, Ashcraft did not back down and wound up pitching a gem. He raised his record to 7-3 with a 3.07 ERA through 16 starts in his first full major-league season.
“Just being able to get ahead with different stuff,” Ashcraft said about the key to his success on Wednesday night. “Not necessarily just auto-throwing fastballs down the middle, 0-0. They’re major league hitters, and major league hitters can hit those pitches. So just being able to mix and throw everything for a strike, I think that’s the biggest thing. Whenever you look at stuff like that, just being able to be confident in throwing any pitch in any count for a strike.”
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