Braxton Ashcraft had an uncharacteristic start in the Pirates' 6-3 loss to the Braves here in Atlanta on Saturday.
Ashcraft threw five innings in the loss, allowing a career-high nine hits and tying his previous career high of six runs given up, including a two-run home run from Dominic Smith in the fifth. He struck out five.
"Just very poor execution, especially with two strikeouts," Ashcraft said of his game. "Didn't have my best stuff today, wasn't able to really spin the ball for swing and miss, and that's a lot of what I feel like I do well. It just boils down to two-strike execution. Execution in general."
Don Kelly acknowledged that the execution wasn't "where we've seen it" from Ashcraft as of late, but still played well.
"I thought the stuff was good," Kelly said. "First, third and fifth, (the Braves) put together good at-bats off of him. Dom Smith got that one up. Was able to lift it down the line to left."
That "good stuff" included not walking a single Braves batter, lowering his walks-per-9.0 innings rate to 1.92, the fourth-lowest rate in the NL among qualified pitchers. It was the fifth time this season in which he he didn't walk a batter, the second-most such games in MLB. He was also especially efficient in the second inning, getting through it with just four pitches and becoming the only pitcher in the league to have multiple four-pitch innings over the course of this season.
Ashcraft thought it was "just one of those days" for himself, and was confident that he could get back on track in the next one.
"I don't think that one outing, one start, one inning, is worthy of going back to the drawing board and reinventing yourself," he said. "I still have a lot of confidence in what I do and how well I do do it. That's why you get 30 of them. That's why we play 162 games. You're going to have outings, you're going to have games where you don't have your best stuff, and that's just part of baseball. It just boils down to going back over these next five days and really locking in what I do well — changing eye levels, moving to both sides of the plate and spinning the ball in the zone and being able to expand when I want to."
THE ASYLUM
Ashcraft: 'Just one of those days'
Braxton Ashcraft had an uncharacteristic start in the Pirates' 6-3 loss to the Braves here in Atlanta on Saturday.
Ashcraft threw five innings in the loss, allowing a career-high nine hits and tying his previous career high of six runs given up, including a two-run home run from Dominic Smith in the fifth. He struck out five.
"Just very poor execution, especially with two strikeouts," Ashcraft said of his game. "Didn't have my best stuff today, wasn't able to really spin the ball for swing and miss, and that's a lot of what I feel like I do well. It just boils down to two-strike execution. Execution in general."
Don Kelly acknowledged that the execution wasn't "where we've seen it" from Ashcraft as of late, but still played well.
"I thought the stuff was good," Kelly said. "First, third and fifth, (the Braves) put together good at-bats off of him. Dom Smith got that one up. Was able to lift it down the line to left."
That "good stuff" included not walking a single Braves batter, lowering his walks-per-9.0 innings rate to 1.92, the fourth-lowest rate in the NL among qualified pitchers. It was the fifth time this season in which he he didn't walk a batter, the second-most such games in MLB. He was also especially efficient in the second inning, getting through it with just four pitches and becoming the only pitcher in the league to have multiple four-pitch innings over the course of this season.
Ashcraft thought it was "just one of those days" for himself, and was confident that he could get back on track in the next one.
"I don't think that one outing, one start, one inning, is worthy of going back to the drawing board and reinventing yourself," he said. "I still have a lot of confidence in what I do and how well I do do it. That's why you get 30 of them. That's why we play 162 games. You're going to have outings, you're going to have games where you don't have your best stuff, and that's just part of baseball. It just boils down to going back over these next five days and really locking in what I do well — changing eye levels, moving to both sides of the plate and spinning the ball in the zone and being able to expand when I want to."
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits!
We’d love to have you!