The Pittsburgh Pirates' Braxton Ashcraft struggled mightily Tuesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals, surrendering six runs in a rare poor outing.
PITTSBURGH – Braxton Ashcraft gave a very brief synopsis of his outing on Tuesday night.
“Not very good,” the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander said.
Indeed, Ashcraft had what was easily the worst of his six starts this season as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Pirates 11-7 at PNC Park. He was rocked for six runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings while striking out seven and walking three.
Pittsburgh was trailing 5-0 when manager Don Kelly gave Ashcraft (1-2) the hook. However, they were unable to dig out of the hole they had dug earlier.
“There are going to be good ones and bad ones,” Ashcraft said. “To get down real big early on, I was proud of the way this team fights and continues to fight. It’s really encouraging. It’s exciting to be a part of. But just have to be better there.”
Ashcraft had been much better in his previous five starts, pitching at least five innings and not allowing more than two runs in any of them.
Prior to Tuesday, Ashcraft had been away from the team for three days while on the bereavement/family medical emergency list. However, Ashcraft did not think that affected his performance.
“I felt really good today,” Ashcraft said. “You hope the days you feel really good are the days you do really well. That’s rare in this game.”
Yet the results turned out to be the opposite of how Ashcraft felt. He never got into a rhythm and fell behind 3-0 when Nolan Gorman homered in the second, and Victor Scott II went deep an inning later.
“The execution of pitches, especially two-strike pitches, has to be better,” Ashcraft said when asked why he struggled. “That’s what got me in trouble today. In general, the execution has to be better. Strike one, then when you get to two strikes putting guys away, making pitches in the zones that I want them to get to, that just has to be more dialed in.”
Ashcraft has not had many clunkers since his major-league debut last May 26. The 26-year-old has a 3.04 ERA through 103 2/3 career innings.
Thus, he says he won’t fret for long about Tuesday’s loss and instead get ready for his next start on Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park.
“I think that, being stubborn in the process and going about my work the way that I know how to go about my work makes me feel a little better about it, but not too much,” Ashcraft said. “Again, really isolating on the execution of pitches in certain situations and being comfortable knowing that if I execute my pitches, generally good outcomes prevail. Today, that wasn’t the case.”
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