Braxton Ashcraft pitches a career-high six innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates, showcasing durability after an injury-free offseason.
Braxton Ashcraft spent his winter preparing for the 2026 season, which was a refreshing change of pace for a pitcher who has often been injured throughout his professional career.
Most of the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander’s offseasons have focused on rehabbing from injuries. He has had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow as well as surgeries on his left shoulder and knee.
Ashcraft felt as strong as he had in years when he reported to spring training last month. And the 26-year-old looked strong on Monday night in his season debut, a 2-0 loss to the Reds in Cincinnati in the opener of a three-game series.
It was a quality start for Ashcraft, who allowed two runs on four hits in a career-high six innings. He walked four and struck out three while throwing 87 pitches.
“This offseason was different than most of the others I've ever had,” Ashcraft told reporters after the game. “Just being healthy, closing out the year last year healthy. Going into the offseason, working on certain things that I haven't really had the opportunity to in the past.
“Just built my body out to be able to withstand a substantially higher workload and be able to cover 180 innings at least this year. The objective is go and make 30 starts and go six innings a start. Will that happen? Probably not. But, I mean, that's the objective.”
Ashcraft never pitched more than 5 2/3 innings in a game last season as a rookie. He logged 118 innings total, the most of his career, between the major leagues and Triple-A.
“Throwing six innings is always a plus,” Ashcraft said. “It always helps the bullpen, and coming from having experience being out there, it's always nice when your starter goes six innings. But ultimately, it doesn't matter. We want to get wins.”
The Reds scored both runs in the fourth inning. Spencer Steer hit a sacrifice fly and Will Benson followed with an RBI triple.
“That fourth inning kind of bit us in the butt,” Ashcraft said.
Yet it did not detract from Ashcraft’s outing in Pirates manager Don Kelly’s mind.
“He did a great job,” Kelly said. “Pitch count was in check. Able to go six innings. He did a nice job of filling up the zone and really used all of his pitches for strikes. His fastball was up there pretty good, too.”
Rookie Bubba Chandler (4-1, 4.02 ERA in 2025) starts for the Pirates on Tuesday night against Brandon Williamson, who has not pitched in the major leagues since 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery.