Three observations from the Pirates' 3-1 win over the Tigers here today at LECOM Park: 

• Braxton Ashcraft seems to be in a good spot as he continues to ramp up. In his fourth start of the spring here tonight, Ashcraft struck out eight batters over five-plus innings of one-run ball. He mixed his pitches well and really found success with the curveball, generating five whiffs and finishing off six of his strikeouts with it. As for Ashcraft's confidence level at this point: "It’s pretty high. I like the way the ball’s coming out of my hand right now. I like the way my body’s feeling. The past couple offseasons have been bumpy coming off injuries from the last season. Being able to close out last season healthy, going through a healthy offseason and get a good body of work in, get back into the season feeling good, body moving good, really being able to work on stuff rather than trying to get healthy, it makes for a really productive spring." 

• It wasn't the best night for Oneil Cruz out in center field. He missed a ball on a slide that resulted in a Trei Cruz single, one that had an expected batting average of .010 per Baseball Savant, and then dropped an easy fly ball in the fifth, costing the Pirates a run. On that particular play, Oneil got caught catching the ball lower than he normally would. Don Kelly said afterward that he would have liked to see him get around it and catch it a little bit higher above his head. He added that he thought he had time to be able to do that. Ultimately, that's a play he just has to make. You can say it's just spring training, but we've seen this type of stuff during the games that mean something, too. 

• Another hitless night for Brandon Lowe and an 0-for-3 showing with two strikeouts for Bryan Reynolds, who hasn't done a whole lot in terms of offensive production this spring. Those are two guys who are incredibly important to the success of this offense. Reynolds in particular. This team needs more from him than it got last season.