PIRATES

Braxton Ashcraft said there were two pitches in particular he would have liked to have back in the Pirates' 11-9 loss to the Phillies tonight here at PNC Park. 

Both were fastballs located in the middle of the plate and both ended up proving costly, as runs came in to score. The first resulted in a Kyle Schwarber homer in the fifth inning and the second ended in a Justin Crawford leadoff single in the seventh. The latter contributed to Ashcraft being unable to finish out an inning in which Schwarber went deep off of Mason Montgomery, who also served up a fastball down the middle.

“It’s tough to swallow," Ashcraft said before outlining the way in which this group overcomes a loss like this. “You get back to work. Come in tomorrow, it’s a new day, it’s a fresh day. You can’t stew on good ones and bad ones. There’s always a new day and there’s 26 ultra-professionals in this clubhouse and there’s going to be 26 guys that come in tomorrow with a fresh perspective, a positive outlook on the day and go about their work in a good way. We’re going to put in a good body of work and come into the game prepared and hopefully come out with the win." 

Ashcraft ended up throwing a season-high 100 pitches over 6 2/3 innings. He allowed four runs on seven hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out five.